Managing physical threats and threats of the cyber variety have more in common than many realize. For one, there’s the power of data. The more you know about a developing situation, the better-equipped you are to respond. It’s something Dr. Aaron Richman, CEO of TAM-C Solutions, understands quite well—and a large part of the reason he’s deployed not only BlackBerry® AtHoc®, but also several other BlackBerry® security solutions for his private intelligence agency.
With offices in Israel, Dubai, London, and across the continental United States, TAM-C is a global intelligence and threat management firm that handles everything from VIP security to crisis management. It counts multiple Fortune 100 corporations, public sector agencies, and major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) among its clientele, and also provides traveler insurance for important individuals.
“One of the most significant lessons you learn working in intelligence is that you cannot afford to be solely reactive,” says Richman. “You need to be proactive, to anticipate and prepare for the future. That principle underpins a great deal of what TAM-C does, including our purchase decisions.”
Though often diverse in nature and geography, TAM-C’s clients all have at least one thing in common: For them, security is non-negotiable.
“Everything TAM-C deals with is extremely confidential,” Richman explains. “If something happens—if our data is somehow compromised—we aren’t just facing lost business or reputational damage. Someone could end up seriously injured.”
By wrapping BlackBerry AtHoc into its communications infrastructure and leveraging it alongside Fusion, TAM-C’s proprietary AI-infused software platform, TAM-C has added a sophisticated, secure layer of communication with clients, vendors, and partners. This has been greatly beneficial on several occasions, particularly during COVID.
Last year, for instance, the agency was tasked with evacuating people from South America as flights back to America and Europe shut down.
“In such cases,” says Richman, “We need to be in contact with personnel who are working to protect the client’s people, we need to coordinate transportation to the airport, and we need to be capable of responding quickly to a changing situation. This all needs to be done almost immediately, and near-simultaneously. Communication in the field is critical for scenarios like this."
As the pandemic shifts and many parts of the world return to some semblance of normalcy, people have begun once more to travel.
For all the time and effort TAM-C put into securing its systems and safeguarding client data, Richman still wasn’t satisfied. He knew it could be better. And he knew that BlackBerry had a part to play in achieving that.
“There’s an importance to investing in cybersecurity just as much as physical security, especially in my line of work,” Richman says. “Without one, the other inevitably falls short. It’s why we reached out to BlackBerry in the first place, and why we intend to continue working with them moving forward.”
“In the intelligence space, effective communication is everything,” Richman concludes. “We need to ensure that both our clients and our agents know what they need to know, when they need to know it. BlackBerry has helped us achieve this—and given us more tools to protect our data in the process.”
Read the full TAM-C Solutions' case study here, and our earlier article here.
