Interview with Guardian Digital CEO Dave Wreski: Open Source Utilization in Email Security Solutions & More

In this interview, Dave Wreski, Guardian Digital CEO and Founder discusses Guardian Digital's utilization of Open Source in the development of cutting-edge email security solutions and their advantages for your business email.

Security Spotlight: Interview with Dave Wreski, Founder and CEO of Guardian Digital

Interviewed by Brittany Day

Dave Wreski is the CEO and founder of Guardian Digital, a company that provides open-source email solutions to the many network security threats that impact individuals and businesses. Mr. Wreski started Guardian Digital as an Internet security enterprise offering open-source solutions to critical business problems in 1999 and has narrowed its focus on email security over time. Guardian Digital offers products that are highly effective in preventing phishing, spam, malware, and other attacks on network security. Dave Wreski is an expert in the field of email security, as well as an open-source advocate and active member of the Linux community. In this interview, he shares his knowledge of email security, email-related network security issues, and solutions Guardian Digital provides.

Guardian Digital's email security solutions are unique in that they utilize open-source development and open-source software. What advantages does open-source email security provide over alternative proprietary email security solutions?

There are multitudes of inherent advantages to using open-source development and open-source software that we provide to our customers so they can utilize them in their data and network security solutions. Compared to proprietary methods, open-source development often results in superior products because many developers are able to collaborate and improve upon ideas, leading to high levels of innovation in engineering. We believe open-source software is more secure over its lifecycle because of its transparency and accessibility. Open-source products with cybersecurity vulnerabilities are fixed rapidly upon detection. The specific open-source programs we have chosen to use for our email security solutions have a long history of being highly secure, and any network security issues that existed prior to this were identified through peer review so they could be taken care of immediately. Open-source products are standards-based, making them freely accessible to everyone, unlike many proprietary alternatives.

What are the shortcomings or downfalls of many email security solutions on the market today? In what ways is the email security that Guardian Digital provides superior?

Guardian Digital’s email security solutions offer many advantages over our competitors’ solutions. We utilize a purpose-built operating system that is designed to be extremely secure. We stay updated on the latest cybersecurity trends so we can adhere to the latest standards in email security, which include implementing the highest level of encryption to protect information from unauthorized parties.

Guardian Digital also provides the highest level of data and network security for email for no charge, unlike many companies that require customers to pay more for an upgrade.

Can you talk a little bit about how being an active member of the Linux community has influenced your views on email security? How has Linux impacted Guardian Digital as an enterprise?

We are very passionate about Linux and open source and have used it as the foundation of everything we do since our inception in 1999. Linux is an extremely reliable operating system with customizable software. As a result, we have always been an active member of the Linux community and give back as much as we can. One way we have done this is by sponsoring the development of LinuxSecurity.com, a website that Linux users can visit for the latest open-source updates and cybersecurity news.

What do you feel are the biggest email-related threats that exist today? What do you recommend that companies do to protect themselves from these threats? How do the services that Guardian Digital offers protect organizations from current email-related threats?

Phishing is one of the most dangerous email-related network security threats because of the financial damage that can result from these types of scams. Phishing attacks in network security have become highly targeted and sophisticated, making them very difficult to detect. Spam is another significant problem because it has become so prevalent and negatively impacts all email users. Spam is difficult to detect and block and decreases worker productivity. Spam emails can convince people to share personal information or transfer money to criminals. Using a comprehensive, state-of-the-art email security solution like the ones that Guardian Digital provides is the most effective method of protection from any email-related network security issues.

Guardian Digital's email security solutions are cloud-based. Can you discuss the various advantages of cloud services in regard to email security?

Our open-source, cloud-based email security offers our customers various advantages. First, the server is built to be highly secure, adding yet another element of data and network security to our solutions. Emails must pass through an additional filter before they reach end users. We are able to store spam in the cloud, where we either eliminate it or quarantine it. We have developed highly secure cloud-based solutions to protect email accounts so that companies and individuals can focus on other aspects of business and life rather than whether or not they run the risk of facing cloud security breaches.

Guardian Digital prioritizes top-notch customer service. In what ways is outstanding customer service a critical aspect of an effective email security solution?

Offering our customers outstanding support and services is and always has been a priority for us. In many ways, the quality of the services we offer is just as important as the email security products we provide. Being an open-source email security company, we view the unrivaled service we offer our customers as the unique value that sets us apart from other enterprises. We realize email is a critical business function and have designed our services to ensure we’re there to help every step of the way with ensuring email is always secure.

Guardian Digital is the first of its kind to take the best-of-breed network security toolkits in the Linux community and integrate them into enterprise email solutions with an intense focus on security and unrivaled customer support, designed to ease information technology overhead for its customers. It is this pioneering role we have played in engineering an unprecedented level of open-source security that has made Guardian Digital trusted by so many clients worldwide for almost twenty years. We don't just use existing programs but develop a whole infrastructure of services around them. We are continually at the forefront of the security field to ensure that our engineers preserve our leading-edge products and services as data and network security threats continue to evolve.