Next-gen threats loom: Cybersecurity veteran weaves solution for businesses of all verticals, sizes

Short-handed and dispersed teams face growing risks as they amass technology, said Chuck Crawford, detailing how technology debt and sprawl lead not only to underutilized tech and siloed environments — but open the door to cybersecurity threats.

Such next-generation challenges require the expertise of an industry veteran like Crawford, who launched Loom Security in April 2024, with focus on cloud security, generative AI, application and data security posture management, and zero-trust identity security.

“The whole concept of Loom is going into an organization and looking at: what do they have today, where are they trying to get to, and how can we weave their current technologies together to take advantage of where they want to go?” explained Crawford, co-founder and former CSO of Fishtech Group, now Cyderes. “It’s weaving and building these integrations together and taking advantage of their current investments.”

“So we call it breaking down organizational silos of excellence and implementing operational governance on top of that and helping organizations achieve successful outcomes from there,” he added.

Holistic, people-oriented security for the masses

Many organizations use posture management for cybersecurity monitoring, Crawford noted, so Loom aims to use a unified security posture management solution to help streamline the process. 

“We’re coming in looking at maturity levels of your posture management environments, your controls, your risk, your technical troubles, around your data, around your people, around your cloud architectures,” he said, “looking at risk, looking at the maturity of those organizations, and then bringing all that together from one unified operational model to simplify that complex environment for organizations moving forward.”

It’s not just about the data, Crawford continued, it’s about people.

“We can secure the people and their journey and where they’re accessing,” he said. “That’s our unique approach and that’s our differentiator. That’s what is resonating well.”

When he launched Loom, Crawford noted, he planned to focus on the small- to medium-sized business market. But when he vetted his idea with his past clients, those larger enterprises said they needed the same help.

“So I was walking right back on the side of Fortune X customers again,” he continued. “We’re just now re-shifting a product to go into the mid-market and SMB market now. So unintentionally, we hit all verticals and all sizes in organizations moving forward.”

Chuck Crawford, then-CSO and co-founder of Fishtech Group, and Don Kleoppel, then-chief security officer for Cerner, pose together after Fishtech Group was honored as one of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2020; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News

Regroup around persistent problems

When Fishtech Group merged with the Herjavec Group to form Cyderes at the end of 2021, Crawford shared, it solved a need in the market, but it wasn’t his passion. So after sitting on the sidelines for a few years and talking to past customers, he saw the same frustrations that existed when Fishtech launched in 2014. (His roots with the industry go back even further to predecessors FishNet Security, FireMon and beyond.)

From the archives: ‘Cyderes’ emerges from Fishtech, Herjavec merger; new cybersecurity powerhouse aims to reshape market

“They needed a trusted partner and advisor to come in and help them build, help them validate strategy design, and not just have another organization that could just pitch them a product right out of the gate or solution without actually listening,” he explained.

So when Crawford showed those past customers his business plan for Loom — his unique roadmap to address next generation or multi-cloud environments and the challenges they were facing there — it resonated well, he said. 

“It inspired me that, ‘Hey, I was on the right path and my passion is still there,’” Crawford added. “Just getting back out in front of customers again, sitting side by side with them, and even whiteboarding with them again and having these discussions, this is stuff I’ve missed drastically, and it’s what drives me.”

Crawford had an easy time convincing his core team from Fishtech — who had moved on to other ventures — to rejoin him to launch Loom, he said

“It’s been a fun ride,” he added.

Laser-focused on their lane

During his time at Fishtech, Crawford noted, he learned from mentor Gary Fish how to be a leader and he still leans on that wisdom as he guides his new venture.

“I was a good leader, but not in regards to running a company,” Crawford explained of his early years alongside Fish. “So I was blessed to really sit in the shadows and learn and watch how he made his decisions, watch how he conducted leadership meetings, and learn how he did risk management from a business perspective. He was brilliant.”

But that doesn’t mean that Crawford is trying to build another Fishtech, he noted.

“I’m very laser focused on what we’re doing here at Loom Security and customers appreciate that,” Crawford said. “They appreciate the fact that we’re staying in our lane, we’re staying very laser focused on a go-to market.”

“We’ve built it, so now we could actually be complementary to the companies we built in the past, as well as others that have historically been competitors in the market,” he added. “Being on that complementary landscape makes it easier on our customers.”