Suggestions
Walter Haydock
I help AI-powered companies manage cybersecurity, compliance, and privacy risk | NIST AI RMF and ISO 42001 expert | Harvard MBA | Marine veteran
Professional Background
Walter Haydock is a highly regarded leader in the field of cybersecurity and risk management, with extensive experience working with both publicly traded and venture-backed companies. He has dedicated his career to addressing emerging security challenges, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence (AI) and its associated risks. As businesses increasingly adopt AI tools, Walter has recognized the critical need for organizations to establish comprehensive governance frameworks and risk management strategies. His insights into the importance of risk assessment and policy creation have made him a trusted advisor to numerous organizations seeking to leverage AI safely and effectively.
Walter's professional journey began with a solid foundation in military and intelligence operations, having served as a Platoon Commander and subsequently as an Intelligence Officer in the United States Marine Corps. This experience honed his analytical skills and ability to assess threats, which would later inform his approach to cybersecurity and risk management. Following his time in the military, Walter transitioned to governmental roles, serving as a Congressional Staffer for the Federal Data Program Oversight at the U.S. House of Representatives and as a Targeting Analyst at the National Counterterrorism Center, where he gained invaluable insights into data governance and strategic decision-making.
After making a name for himself in government, Walter ventured into the private sector, where he has held several prominent positions. He functioned as the Cybersecurity Product Manager for an Internet of Things (IoT) Analytics Platform at PTC, where he tackled security challenges unique to connected devices and drove innovation in product development. His expertise continued to grow during his tenure at Cloud Security Alliance as a SaaS Governance and Security Expert, where he advised organizations on best practices for cloud-based application security. Walter later took on the role of Data Security and Governance Product Manager at Privacera, where he focused on enhancing security protocols for data management solutions.
His entrepreneurial spirit led him to found StackAware, a company dedicated to providing organizations with the tools and insights needed to navigate the complexities of AI governance and security. Walter's innovative approach emphasizes the necessity of structured processes, decision-making frameworks, and technical safeguards to mitigate potential risks associated with the implementation of AI technologies.
Education and Achievements
Walter holds a distinguished educational background that has equipped him with the knowledge and skills to excel in his field. He studied at Harvard Business School, where he earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA), further enhancing his strategic and leadership capabilities. Walter also obtained a Master of Arts (MA) degree from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, giving him a deep understanding of international relations and policy-making. Additionally, he received a Bachelor of Science (BS) from the United States Naval Academy, laying the groundwork for his analytical and operational expertise in security matters. His early education at Phillips Academy provided him with a solid foundation for his academic pursuits.
Walter's multi-faceted achievements reflect his commitment to advancing the fields of cybersecurity and AI governance. He has been recognized for his ability to effectively communicate complex security issues to diverse audiences, enabling stakeholder buy-in and collaboration on risk management initiatives. With his extensive experience in both military and commercial sectors, Walter has seamlessly blended technical knowledge with strategic insight, allowing him to deliver actionable solutions to organizations navigating the fast-paced world of AI.
Achievements
Walter Haydock's career is marked by numerous significant accomplishments:
- Leadership in Cybersecurity: As the founder and CEO of StackAware, Walter developed an innovative platform designed to help organizations address their security challenges related to AI implementation. This venture showcases his entrepreneurial spirit and his commitment to developing solutions that empower businesses to thrive in an AI-driven world.
- Expertise in AI Risk Management: Walter's insights into the risks associated with AI adoption have made him a sought-after expert in the field, speaking at conferences and contributing to publications that address the pressing concerns of cybersecurity, compliance, and data privacy as they pertain to emerging technologies.
- Cross-sector Experience: His diverse professional background, spanning military services, governmental positions, and the tech industry, empowers Walter to approach security challenges from a unique perspective. This versatility allows him to communicate effectively with
Highlights
"Still looking at different platforms for AI. Once we land on one...we can make a decision on governance."
☝️ From a health-tech company and potential StackAware customer. Unfortunately, this approach is backwards (which I of course told them).
Right after establishing your business requirements for AI, the next step should be governance, NOT picking tools and technologies!
If you don't have a framework for answering these types of questions, it's not time to start buying software:
-> How are we ensuring employees use AI securely? -> What data will vendors be allowed to train on? -> Where are we going to host the AI models? -> What's our risk appetite for hallucinations? -> Outputs with unlawful or unwanted bias? -> Jailbreaking and safety layer evasion? -> Copyright infringement suits? -> A public relations issue? -> Regulatory action?
If you try to jam a governance and security program onto an existing technology stack, you won't be able to change your risk picture much.
And you'll be managing it the most expensive ways, via:
-> Mitigation (policies, other tools that cost $) -> Transfer (cyber insurance, indemnification) -> Acceptance ("decision is already made")
But at this point, it will be too late for the cheapest approach of all: avoiding the risk to begin with.
So if you find yourself at this crossroads, please remember: get governance in place BEFORE you start buying AI tools.
Anthropic issues a challenge to OpenAI with Claude Enterprise. Here's what the product will offer:
-> System for Cross-domain ID Management (SCIM) -> Role-based access control (RBAC) -> No training on customer data -> 500k token context window -> Native GitHub integration -> Single sign-on (SSO) -> Domain capture -> Audit logs
This matches (and exceeds, in the case of the context window and GitHub integration) the features of ChatGPT Enterprise.
The biggest question from a security/privacy perspective?
Can you customize data retention periods like with OpenAI's equivalent?
Anthropic's privacy FAQ suggests not:
"we automatically delete inputs and outputs on the backend within 30 days of receipt or generation, except when you and we have agreed otherwise, if we need to retain them for longer to enforce our Usage Policy (UP), or comply with the law."
While you can get Zero Data Retention (ZDR) for the Claude API with one of these separate agreements, it doesn't look like you will have fine-grained control over retention.
Something to think about for those with regulatory requirements mandating longer retention (especially financial services).
What are your questions about Claude Enterprise?
People also viewed
Related People
Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.