In episode 37, Mandy Haeburn-Little is joined by two members of the team at Akamai, the newest member of our National Cyber Resilience Centre Group National Ambassadors. Mandy chats with Richard Meeus,

Director of Security Technology and Strategy EMEA, and Matt Payne, Regional Director, EMEA Financial Services Industry and Public Sector at Akamai Technologies.

The conversation starts with a brief background about the origins of the company and its name, explaining how a water cooler moment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) back in 1998 led to what is now Akamai, an engineering-led organisation with a platform specifically designed to provide scale and resilience.

The team provided interesting examples of how notable events, such as the release of the original Star Wars trailer, were a test and validation of the platform's design and ability to deal with large volumes of traffic.

Richard and Matt also explain the three main verticals of the business, which are Delivery (of content), Security, and Cloud. However, they are quick to highlight that it's Akamai's ability to bring all of these elements together that makes it unique and provides a platform where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

The two also talk about the importance of their Security Operations Centre, which provides customers with direct access to over 250 experienced and competent engineers. They also explain the value of their State of the Internet Report (SOTI Report), which gathers data firsthand from the information Akamai sees daily, providing a view of what's evolving and what's changing in terms of threats.

During the engaging conversation, Mandy asks Richard and Matt if we are getting better at dealing with ransomware attacks and about the impact of AI on cybercrime; both provide insightful and thought-provoking answers to all of the questions in what is a most interesting and open conversation.