Cracking the code to a secure business venture

Rakesh Thatha was exploring the world of computer hacking as part of his research at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Madras when it occurred to him that a majority of online frauds could be eliminated if people used a password that changed every time a person logged on to a system.

Meanwhile, Rakesh’s brother Pavan, who had already dirtied his hands as a student entrepreneur at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, was looking to start afresh after the online recruitment portal he had developed with fellow students failed to take off.

A few years later, Pavan persuaded his younger brother to give up his job at Computer Associates​ to join him in developing the security software. The one-and-a-half-year-old software company and its flagship ArrayShield product has since won multiple awards and recognition, including the Red Herring Asia Award for innovative technology.

“It is easy to decipher a password if I have personal information, almost 10% of people use “password” as password and the rest would use their names, pet names or kid’s name,” says Rakesh.

The Thatha brothers, who are testing the product in at least two companies, aim to become a global player in the computer security market in three years. A long way for the sons of a cloth retailer in a small coastal town in Andhra Pradesh, who claim to have first seen a computer after they joined college. Little did Pavan and Rakesh, who joined IIT Bombay and IIT Madras, respectively, on the same day, realize that four years later, both of them would come together to found the company.

Although Pavan’s debut as a student entrepreneur on setting up an online recruitment portal at the IIT Bombay’s Shailesh J Mehta School of Management failed, it strengthened his resolve to become an entrepreneur. The stint at the IIT helped Pavan crystallize his ambition to start a company and Rakesh to come up with the idea that would change how a person is authenticated. Rakesh says it was a simple idea that struck him while he was half asleep. Pavan was the first to graduate in his family. When he completed his studies at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, in 2004 with a Roll of Honor, his parents were both thrilled and excited.

“Technology was my passion and I wanted to set out on my own, but realized that I lacked the industry understanding and joined Philips,” says Pavan, the chief executive officer.

He quit Philips after working as a software programmer for two years and enrolled for his MBA at IIT Bombay. “I was sure that I wanted to become an entrepreneur, but did not have enough skill and decided to pursue MBA,” says Pavan.

... more                                                                                                                                                                Published on:  2 Jan 2012