TSaaS: The Simple Solution to SEC Rule 613 Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT)

Time synchronization services have been around for a long time, but now the SEC’s Rule 613 (Consolidated Audit Trail) requires accurate time. Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service makes compliance to this rule much more simple.

What is Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS)?

Like many other cloud services, TSaaS is built on the idea of using a pool of shared resources to be able to more efficiently, thus less expensively, deliver a specific resource. Often, that resource is computing power, storage space, or a specific application, but here that resource is highly accurate and traceable time. TSaaS has existed for years, coming into more popular use with other cloud services and the increased prevalence of distributed computing. With large farms of servers needing to process many millions of transactions a second across them, knowing which transactions happened first is very important.

These time readings are retrieved from highly accurate global navigation satellite systems (such as GPS/GNSS) to globally distributed Grandmaster time servers with up to 30 nanoseconds accuracy, 30/1,000,000,000 of a second, compared to NIST or UTC time standard. It is common that time is simply distributed from those GPS/GNSS clocks directly to servers and other systems using Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP).

Steadfast additionally utilizes proprietary NTP/PTP clock chain synchronization and NIST/UTC traceability compliance software from FSMTime that can use these multiple Grandmaster sources across multiple network paths, as well as any additional third-party timing sources to ensure even greater accuracy.

The bottom line: Steadfast monitors, analyses, and retrieves multiple time sources from GPS/GNSS-sourced NTP and PTP network feeds through FSMTime’s software technology, to time-sync critical servers’ business clocks with nanoseconds range accuracy, traceable to NIST/UTC, and retain as proof of compliance. 

How Does TSaaS Fit with SEC Rule 613 CAT?

The new SEC Rule 613 CAT will require all firms trading on the National Market System (NMS) to report to a central repository regarding each quote and order in an NMS security, and each reportable event with respect to each quote and order, such as origination, modification, cancellation, routing and execution. This data must be reported with an accuracy within 50 milliseconds of NIST and can never fluctuate outside that. All clocks, across all trading systems being synced to NIST is now suddenly very important. Now, you could build your own dedicated infrastructure to support this, but here are some reasons why Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service solutions might make more sense:

• Time is short, You Need Fast Deployment – Requirements to meet compliance with Rule 613 are coming quickly, with large firms having to start providing data in May of 2020 and all firms needing to start providing compliant data by December of 2021.
• Save Time and Money – A solution already exists, so why spend your time, money and effort designing your own solution? Take advantage of a shared infrastructure to reduce costs and time spent. Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service generally costs a lot less than roof rights at a single data center, while providing a much more complete set of services.
• Reduce Risk, Ensure Accuracy – Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service is already an established product that fits the accuracy requirements of this specific time stamping rule. You can avoid the risk of challenges that come with building your own, un-tested system by utilizing a verified, turnkey solution that’s already in place.
• This Is Not A One-Time Project, It Is A Moving Target – 50 milliseconds is just the beginning “as clock synchronization technology matures further, the Participants will assess, in accordance with Rule 613, tightening CAT’s clock synchronization standards to reflect changes in industry standards.” Let a Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service provider worry about that for you.

Setting Up for Compliance Can Be Simple

Rule 613 CAT is not to be taken lightly. The results of not having the right timestamping solution will cost you dearly in excessive fines, as well as additional investment to adjust or replace your current system to avoid future penalties. Finding the right fit for this very specific service is key – researching providers is just the beginning. To ensure you are getting exactly what you need in terms of accuracy and reliable performance, you will need to mandate scope of the providers time synchronization system, validate performance through a current client, and direct engagement with the providers engineering team will greatly help you transition smoothly.

TSaaS is a critical mix of precision Grandmaster clock software, high-end infrastructure and network connectivity at carrier hotel locations to provide access to multiple network options and backbone providers via cross-connects. Steadfast encompasses all these unique qualities in a comprehensive Steadfast TSaaS solution, featuring FSMTime’s proprietary Grandmaster hardware and software solution coupled with Steadfast’s world-class data center – comprised of all required infrastructure, satellite/GPS/GNSS technology and perfectly positioned next to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Ease the burden of building compliance time synchronization for perfectly timestamping your application servers – simplifying and gaining peace-of-mind with TSaaS.

Steadfast Launches Time Synchronization Service to Assist Trading Broker-Dealer and Firm Compliance with SEC Rule 613 CAT NMS Chicago, June 16 , 2020:  Steadfast, a cloud and managed infrastructure company with more than 20 years of hosting financial service organizations has launched a new time-synchronization-as-a-service (TSaaS) that provides the infrastructure, software, and GPS/GNSS antenna systems to perform accurate timestamping in accordance with SEC 613 Rule CAT NMS requirements.   What is the SEC RULE 613 CAT? To protect the integrity and precision of trading broker-dealers and firms, the SEC adopted Rule 613 to create a Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) repository intended to allow regulators to monitor activity in National Market System (NMS) securities throughout US markets. This rule calls for accurate clock synchronization and timestamping of automated order events, at a minimum, to within 50 milliseconds for FINRA Industry Members and 100 microseconds for FINRA Participants, forensically traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) time standard. Complex deviation measurements and clock chain integrity maintenance of such synchronization, by logging the offset and unbroken traceability on every synchronization event on any trading application server, must be recorded and reported to CAT for proof of compliance or risk the possibility of costly penalties, including trading suspension. “This rule can be a real concern for many trading firms that do not have the time server appliances, rooftop GPS/GNSS antenna systems, time synchronization and compliance software, or other tools to meet the timestamping  accuracy requirements,” said Tim Monner, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Steadfast. “Building a proprietary solution can cost these firms significant investments in both time and financial capital.”  The Steadfast Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS) Alternative Steadfast, using technology from FSMTime, an industry leader in clock sync products and services, has built a simpler approach. Combining existing world-class, audited data centers from Steadfast with FSMTime TimeKeeper® software options, the Steadfast Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS)  enables financial brokers and traders to quickly and cost-effectively deploy and maintain an accurate time system as a simple monthly operating expense.    “The simplicity of this solution is that Steadfast already has all the infrastructure, GNSS-sourced grandmaster clocks, and managed service and support available now,” said Nino De Falcis, EVP, Sales and Marketing at FSMTime. “By layering our TimeKeeper® on top of their infrastructure services, traders and broker-dealers essentially now have a complete turnkey solution that can easily assist with the CAT business clock requirements.” Review Your OptionsNot sure if the Steadfast TSaaS solution would be a good fit for your organization? Take a few seconds to request a 20-minute discovery call with our team to review your options.  About Steadfast We make it work, so you can take care of business. Specialists inCloud Consulting, Engineering and Hosting for over 20 years, we offer customized services at all stages of design and deployment to maintenance and expansion planning. As an extension of your team, our goal is to ease technology constraints, making your life easier so you can Strengthen Your Focus on your core business. Visit Steadfast: www.steadfast.net About FSMLabs/FSMTime and TimeKeeper The leading financial trading firms in the world, ranging from ICE to Virtu Financial and firms in many other industries, depend on TimeKeeper for precise time and industry’s best TimeCare support. FSMTime (FSMLabs), develops, markets, supports TimeKeeper Active Client, Server, and Compliance software and TimeKeeper Grandmasters. TimeKeeper works on Linux, Windows and Solaris. TimeKeeper, TimeCare, FSMLabs, and FSMTime are trademarks of Finite State Machine Labs Inc. Visit FSMTime: https://www.fsmtime.com  Contact Steadfast Tim Monner, VP of Marketing and Business Development312-602-2689 ext. 240, Tim.monner@steadfast.net

How did you come to work with NuCurrent?

When I was about to graduate from Purdue University I had three offers. One was in Minnesota, the other was in Indiana, and the last was NuCurent. The first two opportunities were well-established corporations, where if I kept my head down and did my job right, my future would be secure. Then there was NuCurrent, where these two guys (the founders) needed their first employee. I thought it was a great time to take the risk and take the lead with a new technology.

Who has had the biggest influence on your career?

My professor of power electronics, Maryam Saeedifard. At the time, I was between power electronics & signal processing, and I wasn’t sure which direction I should go. She encouraged me to continue on power electronics and considered that wireless charging would be good for this. I was very happy I took her advice – she’s the best.

What is the coolest thing you’ve developed or project you’ve worked on?

The coolest projects are the ones that are truly impactful, and are for the common good of helping people. For one project, we’re creating wireless charging for neurostimulation pain relief. A previous project was wirelessly powered self-tying shoes; That product could help elderly people or diabetic people with swollen feet. The projects that have meaning beyond the technology or commodity are exciting for me.

What do you like most about what you do? 

The challenges. I get excited with a challenge that seems unsurmountable. Our team works together to create something that we couldn’t possibly do by ourselves.That synergy is exciting too. NuCurrent is about working really hard, and then sitting back and looking at it and feeling proud and fulfilled. Like the thrill of getting to the top of the mountain

Which achievement at NuCurrent are you most proud of?

There are so many things. At the beginning it was like a blank canvas. After several years, we got to a point where we could create full inductive charging systems from the ground up by NuCurrent. Seeing junior engineers applying what we’ve discovered and using it for new projects is something that makes me proud. It’s something that we worked really hard on.

Dead or alive, if you could have a dinner party with three famous and influential figures, who would they be and why?

●   Nikola Tesla, he’s the founder of wireless power.

●   Gabriel Garcias Marquez, he’s Colombian and I’ve probably read all of his work.

●   Juan Gabriel, he’s the most incredible Mexican singer.

What did you want to be when you were in kindergarten?

A musician. I got into music school, when I was four or five years old. And I just remember that I would prefer to be at the music academy more than my house. It was a perfect place for a little kid – because all of the instruments I wanted to play were there.

How many patents are you attributed to?

It’s over 70 internationally and over 50 in the U.S. Patents are a way of demonstrating explicit innovation and at a certain point it becomes a metric. They are all in a sense something to be proud of – some more than others. We work together as a team to develop wireless power solutions that need innovation. Most client projects we get into you think: How the hell are we gonna do this? But then, we do.

You were employee #1 at a company right out of college. What was that like?

I did have doubts in the beginning. My first day was unpacking boxes to set up a lab by myself. But, you know, you can either say “I’m out” or “Ok, let’s try to make this work.” I’m proud I chose the latter. There was so much research and failed attempts. It was a lot of work, and if we weren’t doing it right, we were still doing our best.

It’s 2020, how do you think humans should start prioritizing technology and what problems it can solve?

Technology companies need to think of what’s morally responsible and acknowledge the impact they have on people’s lives.

On June 3rd, we teamed up with a handful of incredible FinTech CEO’s to host a “Vendors versus Virus” webinar.  Grab yourself a beverage and kick back to learn how Monel Amin, Rick Lane, Hazem Dawani, and Kristi Ross have been successfully leading their teams and companies to new heights through the pandemic.

Watch the full webinar here!

As businesses remain open to deliver essential goods and services during this uncertain time, it’s important for providers who are working at these properties to remain aware of protocols that can help keep their team and customers healthy. The guidelines below can bring you peace of mind that you’re doing everything you can to keep your technicians safe, so that you can continue to serve your customers and communities.

Follow general healthy practices

Encourage your technicians to follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

• Clean your hands often. Wash your hands frequently for 20 seconds with soap and water; use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol; and avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or an arm when coughing or sneezing.
• Keep immune systems strong by eating healthy foods, drinking plenty of water, and getting plenty of rest.
• Avoid close contact and practice social distancing. Avoid shaking hands or other personal contact. The CDC recommends maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet between people at all times.

Use protective equipment

If available, provide technicians with the following personal protective equipment (PPE) and educate them on its proper use, in accordance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.

• Disposable latex or nitrile gloves.
• N-95 or higher respirator (preferred) or face mask
• Shoe covers
• Isolation gowns
• Eye protection (safety glasses to discourage rubbing of eyes)

Also provide disinfectants, including bleach solutions or alcohol solutions of at least 70 percent for surfaces and tools and personal disinfectants with an alcohol concentration of at least 60 percent.

Protect your team with these best practices

• Hold regular safety meetings to discuss and remind technicians of prevention techniques. Technicians should make sure to wash hands before entering and upon leaving a property, avoid close contact with customers, limit the surfaces they come into contact with if possible, and disinfect equipment after work completion.
• Require employees to stay home if they are sick, symptomatic, or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. Symptoms include cough, fever, and shortness of breath.
• Recommend that any employees who do not need to leave their home to fulfill their job function work from home.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily, including desks, tables, doorknobs, trucks, phones, tablets, and tools and equipment.
• Avoid non-essential travel and reduce trips to common locations, such as supply houses, if possible.

Chicagoan by birth or relocation?
Relocation—I’m originally from Massachusetts.

What brought you to Chicago? I moved here for graduate school. I thought I wanted to become a professor, but I realized I hated doing research. I liked Chicago, so I stayed and got a job as a software developer. This city has so much to offer in the technology space.

Who has had the biggest influence on your career?
My mother. She worked in a technical role on some of the early calculators and computers in the 1960s and 70s and faced a lot of sexism and adversity. She always pushes me to do what I want and find interesting, as opposed to what other people want or expect me to do, even today.

What’s the best advice that you’ve ever received?
Deliver something, even if it’s not everything.

How did you come to work with CSC Corptax?
I came from a small team and was looking for a larger software group where I could learn from my peers and grow technically. CSC Corptax gave me the opportunity to be part of a larger team and work with peers across the organization, as well as enhance my skills. There are all kinds of perks – free Visual Studio and Pluralsite subscriptions, conference attendance, on-the-job training, and tuition reimbursement for formal training.

What have been some of your favorite media (books, podcasts, movies, documentaries, TV shows) of the last six months and why?
With COVID-19 going on, I’ve tried to limit news consumption, but I found Vox’s “The Weeds” nice because they explain proposed policies in more detail than a lot of other sources. On the fun side, I’ve been rereading “The Expanse” book series and rewatching the corresponding TV series. It’s a little bit of escapism.

What do you like most about what you do? 
I get to be both analytical and creative – I analyze complex problems and then propose solutions. Doing both keeps my days interesting and keeps me engaged.

What’s your outlook on the local tech industry?
COVID-19 has the potential to dramatically change the tech community here. The value of being downtown – office culture, networking events, and community meetups – is going to be either impossible or very different for quite a while. Organizations will need to be creative about how they connect with the local tech community. But virtual events will allow more engagement with industry peers who aren’t downtown. And with more people working remotely, they’ll have greater freedom in where they live and work. CSC Corptax has always had a large remote workforce supported by investments in technology, and I expect this will continue.

What is the hardest challenge that you’ve faced on your professional journey?
Interviewing other engineers is by far the hardest thing I’ve had to do so far. I’ve supported hiring engineers that haven’t worked out, and I’ve argued against engineers that have been perfect. It’s a learned skill that I’m still working on.

If money were no object, what would be your dream job?
I’d run a farm-to-table restaurant. I love pretty much everything about food.

Many organizations are now realizing the business value of low-code application platforms, including how they solve common development problems like technical debt and process inefficiencies.  If you haven’t started using low-code yet, download this ebook to learn how it is helping business leaders, as well as novice and experienced developers.

The 6 key ways developers are benefiting by low-code are outlined, plus you’ll discover how a low-code platform:

• Supports speedier development and deployment of solutions
• Maximizes the life of mission-critical systems
• Minimizes code defects and performance issues

This report also touches upon the role of citizen developers in an organization and why their collaboration with IT is so important for staving off issues around reliability, scalability and security during the digital transformation process.

Read this report today to understand how low-code makes development faster, more secure and more robust.

Get your copy here!

Are you a Chicagoan by birth or relocation?

I relocated here from Australia. I was attracted to opportunities in the US, and I chose Chicago because of its central location.

What about KeHE was appealing?

KeHE culture is amazing in the sense that it revolves around “serving to make lives better.” KeHE Cares is our philanthropic wing, which serves internal partners, external partners, and communities that are in need. KeHE is always looking for opportunities to help communities and our planet to make a positive difference in any way we can. All of us at KeHE share this passion and do our part.

What is the coolest thing you’ve developed or project you’ve worked on?

We built a recommendation engine that suggests replacements for items that are either not performing well or are not available for various reasons. The reason I think it is cool is not only because this is a new capability we have provided for our business partners, but also because it was our first foray into products using machine learning.

What is the hardest challenge that you’ve faced on your professional journey?

Switching careers from accounting to technology was difficult, as the software applications were completely new to me. I went from using the applications to developing them.

What do you think are the top issues facing the Illinois tech community?

Access to good talent, and the training and mentoring capabilities required to build a strong talent pool.

What is your earliest childhood memory of technology in your life?

The telephone since this was at a time when only certain people – like doctors – had access to them.

What did you want to be when you were in kindergarten?

I wanted to be a teacher, as I was always excited to explain what I learned in school to my family. I remember using the back of a door as a chalkboard!

What have been some of your favorite media of the last six months and why?

I love reading leadership articles which I subscribe to from Kellogg Insight. The topics are ones I can relate to. It enables me to follow and implement the same ideas to be a better leader and mentor my team.

What’s the best advice that you’ve ever received?

Aim high, but set realistic goals!

If you could have a dinner party with three famous and influential figures, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

Warren Buffet – I rigorously follow the stock market, and Buffet’s approach to investments has been my guiding light.

Sheryl Sandberg – She has been my role model in balancing career and family. She explains very well the need for women in leadership.

Indira Nooyi– She showed that women from different cultures can rise to the top of multinational organizations while still keeping their identity.

About KeHe

With more than 5,500 employee-owners and a 16-distribution center network across North America, we’re one of the largest and most respected national fresh, natural & organic and specialty food distributors. Where we go, we spread the word on healthy eating, sustainable living, and responsible business with integrity. And we back it up with a large distribution network and advanced performance metrics that assure goodness follows to our vendor partners and retail grocers.

“When a customer needs us, they will know right where to find us!”

There was a point in time not so long ago when simply taking your business online was the only way a business had to consider interacting with their consumers in the digital economy. The assumption was that if they built it, customers would come, regardless of the location.

But time moves quickly, and with technology no longer as a barrier to entry for companies looking to lead in the digital landscape, competition is fierce.

Vokal launched a new white paper today, “From Best Practices to Next Practices: Doing Digital Differently in 2020,” outlining how the digital economy is re-writing the rule book companies have been relying on to achieve growth and how, in order to compete, these companies must look ahead to digital next practices to grow products and increase the metrics that matter most.

Within this white paper, business leaders will find action steps, use cases, and recommendations that can be applied immediately to their business as they seek to gain insight into strategic areas for digital growth.

Agile is the Answer

Whether the cost to implement feels disproportionate to the results, a more nimble competitor (or start-up) is achieving better results and eating market share, or they have ideas, but simply do not know where to start. Companies must act as digital athletes and data reveal where the opportunities are and how to experiment with them.

Combined with tools and approaches such as AI, Machine Learning, growth marketing, and rapid prototyping, this leads to smarter digital investments that yield greater results.

The need for organizations to be nimble is more important than ever.

From 18 Month Roadmaps to Experimentation and Rapid Prototyping

It’s important to demonstrate how experimentation can answer questions, evolve, and adapt to new business challenges over time in order to spread a culture that embraces experimentation as a critical piece of moving the needle.

This means not only tracking successes, but combining teams so successes (and failures) are shared across your organization. This better enables your culture of innovation to operate outside of silos, at any given stage of the product life cycle, to not only uncover inspired opportunities for optimization, but also to do in a more capital efficient way.

The New Rules of Digital Change Everything

The new digital economy revolves around the learning mindset of an organization, and experimenting with new ideas and tracking statistically significant metrics. And while this phenomenon is transforming and redefining industries, many established brands still struggle leveraging their digital investments to achieve growth.

Our aim is to deliver a deeper understanding of the new conditions, the new rules, transitioning from what used to be the best practices into this area of digital next practices, and to show that it’s not too late to gain a better understanding of where they are on their digital growth journey to make adjustments to positively impact your business. This true positive change comes about through many repeated tests, a discerning eye for metrics, and the imagination and gumption to try something new.

We are confident that the takeaways from this paper will contribute to the growth of your business and the increased sophistication of your digital platforms.

A special acknowledgement for the collaboration it took to produce this piece: to Vokal’s leadership for their contribution, and to Reid Lappin who was involved in shaping the insights and recommendations found within.

Download your copy of the white paper here.

Uncle Sam wants you… to conduct research and development. That’s why there’s incentives to do so written into the U.S. tax code. In times like these, we’re all looking for ways to save some cash. The good news is you might already be eligible for these credits for something as simple as creating an internal workaround process to limit staff and consumer interaction. The process doesn’t need to be new to the world, just to your organization.

With all tax benefits come strict rules, but don’t let that deter you. Do your balance sheet a favor and find out if you qualify for R&D tax credits today.

The Importance of Information

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that fosters trust between businesses and consumers by ensuring that each person is reliably and safely represented in the marketplace. Because of our work, organizations can better understand consumers to make more informed decisions, and personalize their experiences.

As technology continues to change the way we interact within the marketplace, the importance of information becomes more evident, and ensuring efficiency strengthens our global reach. This is why our approach to technology is, in and of itself, a key part of what drives TransUnion’s success. Consumers and clients rely on us to look beyond the world as we know it and evolve our systems to explore the endless possibilities.

Because of this we are transforming our infrastructure through various cloud-enabled processes to deliver solutions at the demanding pace of the digital world – ultimately positioning us to innovate more rapidly, optimize operations, and create tomorrow’s solutions for our clients.

How is TransUnion evolving technology?

Like many technology-focused companies, we have an opportunity to streamline the sprawl and duplication of infrastructure that has occurred as we’ve doubled in size over the past five years. During that time, we have developed applications that create value for us. These will be reconfigured and optimized into a more modern application-program interface (API) based architecture.

We are reconstructing how networking is done with data in a cloud-enabled framework – making accessibility to our vast global insights automated and secure. Monitoring tools will allow us to understand how we can provide solutions that are right-sized for the businesses we serve. This opens up incredible opportunities to connect with the world around us in more rapid and collaborative ways.   

Transforming technology impacts three major areas of our business, that when combined, creates a synergy of endless possibilities. For example:

• Internal operations: Transforming the way we rely on cloud-enabled solutions will reduce our reliance on previous technology – allowing for more automation, enhanced security, and more processing power to deliver solutions to our customers. 
• Products: Shifting the operation allows our engineers to develop products with all features while keeping security in mind at every step of the way. We’re not only committing more time to meaningful work, we’re putting more of our thinking behind it. The end result is secure, reliable, feature-complete products that perform as expected.
• Our clients: This change in our infrastructure does more than just transform our technology. The results of all of this combined will help us innovate and meet the changing needs of the market.  Consumers will have tools that will improve their experience and protect their information, enabling their trust. We have the opportunity to partner with our clients’ success every day and this enhanced offering only pushes the boundaries.  

Adapting to advanced technology

Advancements within technology have impacted all industries over time, requiring all of us to embrace the fast paced world we live in. New generations demand specific experiences on how they want to interact within the marketplace. To be successful at understanding the benefits of this evolving landscape, we must think about how our clients want to conduct business. Our client-centric approach allows us to adapt to advanced technology.

To continue this ongoing technology transformation, TransUnion has appointed Akshay Kumar as Executive Vice President of Global Technology Architecture & Strategy earlier this year. Read more about Kumar and his proven track record, here. 

“TU has made a focused investment to speed up this migration,” Kumar shares. “Technology is changing and requiring us to be flexible for adapting to the future. And with that, clients look to us because we have an industry leading technology stack with a culture of customer focus, accountability, and performance.”

The opportunities are endless and we’re looking for innovators 

We provide our associates the opportunity to advance their growth so they can learn new ways to increase efficiency and productivity. Supporting our teams by empowering them to bring their skills and help us better evolve our business. We want our team members to grow within the organization and we’ve committed to continually invest in our associates.

Our leadership team is also looking for ways to create meaningful experiences that cultivate exciting solutions. Roles are increasingly varied in function to encourage everyone to bring their curiosity to the table. As the future of technology continues to change, our approach on how we think about our internal functions need to evolve as well. Our associates are not limited to one type of position. Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of the resources we offer to truly create an environment that fosters innovation.

We continue to look for ways to connect with innovators and leaders who are drawn to the incredible opportunities that lie ahead. We’re hiring people who are motivated by being hands-on, have a persistent curiosity about the way users interact, and look forward to serving our communities. If creating the next wave of solutions excites you, then consider your next challenge on our Technology Team at TransUnion.

Click here to watch a quick introduction of Technology at TransUnion

Register here to stay in the loop for all TU career updates

Find open roles here

There are things you can do to improve application security even if you’re unable to recruit and retain an application security engineer.

In a previous post, I highlighted some of the challenges associated with hiring appsec people. We see companies struggle to hire a single appsec engineer, only to have them leave within a year without having accomplished their goals, or leaving a lasting positive impact on the organization. This can happen for a number of reasons:

• The new hire was a technical subject matter expert thrust into a leadership role
• The new hire was a leader who did not have technical expertise and struggled to build credibility with the engineering team
• The new hire was unqualified and placed in the position because the company needed to fill the role

Here’s some good news.

I’m willing to bet that your best appsec engineer candidate is already on your engineering team. You just don’t know it yet. And neither do they. After 17+ years of appsec experience, I see a repeating pattern. You can usually find one person who is interested in and passionate about application security – but they don’t consider themselves a security expert. Assuming they’re a good software engineer, this is a great opportunity.

In this person, you have someone with intimate knowledge of your environment, and the relationships needed to make security improvements. Half of the appsec battle is knowing what applications you have, how data flows through your environment, and where your known security issues are. The other half is having the credibility and leadership capabilities to prioritize changes and allocate engineering effort. Paying a penetration tester to maybe discover security issues that your engineering team already knows about is a waste of time and money. You’re better off giving your secret appsec engineer a voice and some power to get issues resolved.

How do you identify your secret appsec engineer?

The simplest way is to ask. Talk to your team and understand where their interests lie. Ask them if they’re interested in appsec, and offer to send them to training and conferences. Early in my career, I had a boss who saw my passion for appsec and paid for me to go to my first OWASP conference in 2004. My primary role was as a support engineer on our WAF product, but I ended up also functioning as a security champion, finding and escalating security issues to our R&D team. After I knew my boss supported me, I doubled my appsec efforts, my abilities increased, and my career trajectory was set.

Another way is to offer appsec training to your engineers to see who enjoys it and excels. Carve delivers Threat Model training to dozens of engineering teams over the course of a year. This training is highly engaging and interactive – not your typical powerpoint slide show. In any class, you’ll quickly identify the people who are attending because they were told, and the people who are genuinely interested and engaged on the topic of application security. Occasionally, you come across the vocal skeptical engineer who thinks everything is fine, and that application security is a waste of time. This person, with the right leadership, can sometimes be turned into your biggest application security asset.

Here is a challenge for you. Over the next few weeks, talk to your team, and find these two people:

1. Your secret application security engineer
2. Your vocal security skeptic

Given the circumstances of the last few months, the following seven Chicago companies are looking for candidates who are driven but flexible.

Their teams help customers file their taxes, create 3D training models, pay employees more seamlessly and more. But core product offerings alone aren’t enough to entice talented job seekers. 

At DoorDash, CSC Corptax and SurePayroll, employees get opportunities beyond their job description: volunteering at nonprofits like Feed My Starving Children, ongoing learning opportunities and company-wide field research. 

Current onboarding customs may not include in-office handshakes and first-day lunch outings. But research shows that company culture, as well as organizational culture, matters. In 2017, employee experience platform Kazoo found that 49 percent of employees surveyed said company culture influenced their employee experience more than their physical workspace or technology at their disposal. Below, professionals from seven Chicago companies shared some of the reasons they’re excited to go to work each day.

We love working with our customers to give back to our communities! We spoke to Built In Chicago about how we can make a difference together:

CSC Corptax

What they do: CSC Corptax has provided customers with technology-based tax solutions since 1975. The team’s software solutions include data and entity management, tax planning and tax compliance services.

One thing that would surprise people about CSC Corptax: Each year, more than 500 CSC Corptax employees and customers pack meals for global nonprofit Feed My Starving Children at the company’s CONNECT user conference. “Last year we packed a record 132,480 meals, bringing our total to more than 700,000 meals so far,” Director of Software Development Ganesh Kumar said. “There’s nothing quite like connecting with customers while doing something so meaningful.”

One trait all team members share: Flexibility. “As an individual, you need to be able to switch gears and reprioritize tasks, especially in the current tax environment,” Kumar said. “Our response to COVID-19 shows how we’re able to pivot to manage change.” Case in point: the entire company was able to work from home without impacting operations. 

As if our 2020 wasn’t challenging enough, we are now confronted by another crisis that we must address. We are all feeling a lot of pain, anger, frustration, sadness and yes, fear. Especially because, with respect to race relations in the U.S., the progress feels both significant and still not enough at the same time. Nobody needs to be told how to properly treat another human being, and that’s not going to happen here – clearly racism and the killing by police of George Floyd, among others, similarly over time, are unacceptable to us. We stand by all peaceful protesters of these senseless events, and we are anxious for justice to be served, properly and swiftly!

DigitalOcean’s values start with community and end with love. We are expanding our Hub for Good program to support nonprofits, projects, and startups that are actively fighting for a range of causes that include reducing inequalities, promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and productive employment for all.

When we initially launched Hub for Good in April, the program was designed to support relief efforts during the height of COVID-19. We are proud to have received over 1,000 applications to date, helped launch almost 600 projects, and have donated over $150,000 in infrastructure. Hub for Good started as a space where our community came together to build and share projects and resources with missions centered around COVID-19 relief efforts.

Now, we are broadening, indefinitely, our Hub for Good program to assist with other challenges our community is facing and, based on the extension, will commit up to $500,000 in infrastructure credits. We stand for equality and justice and want to donate our infrastructure to help our community build solutions to help the world better address both.

We are proud to support those who are making a difference and inspiring even more action. We hope you’ll join us in our mission to uplift our community, bring us all closer together, and make the positive impact on our world that we need so urgently now. 

We’re in the process of making these changes to the Hub for Good page. Stay tuned to learn more about these updates, and how to get involved and spread the word.

Stay strong and stay safe and, most importantly, stay focused on the good we all can do!

Great Place to Work’s best work places in Chicago 2020 features the top 40 small and medium size companies; Centro comes in at number 4! 

WHAT EMPLOYEES ARE SAYINGIt’s the energy they put into their people. You hear so often now the importance of having good employees, but Centro supports us to be GREAT employees.

To determine the 2020 Best Workplaces in Chicago, Great Place to Work® analyzed confidential survey feedback from over 27,000 employees in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Employees responded to over 60 survey questions describing the extent to which their organization creates a Great Place to Work For All™. Eighty-five percent of the evaluation is based on what employees say about their experiences of trust and reaching their full human potential as part of their organization, no matter who they are or what they do. Great Place to Work analyzes these experiences relative to each organization’s size, workforce make up, and what’s typical in their industry and in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The remaining 15 percent of the rank is based on an assessment of all employees’ daily experiences of innovation, the company’s values, and the effectiveness of their leaders, to ensure they’re consistently experienced.

To be considered, companies had to meet the Great Place to Work-Certified standard. To ensure companies had a sufficient presence in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area, at least 4% of the survey respondents at large companies and at least 20% and a minimum of 10 of the survey respondents in small and medium companies needed to be from the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area. Companies with 10 to 999 people were considered for the small and medium category; companies with 1,000 employees or more were considered for the large category.

This ranking was finalized prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and does not reflect companies’ roles or responses to their people or communities in addressing the impact of the coronavirus.