10 Things You Didn’t Know About Michael Assraf

Michael Assraf is the founder of Vicarius Company which specializes in integrating, consolidating, and protecting critical apps and assets from exploitation via TOPIA in 2016. Later on, his co-founding friends, Yossi Zeévi and Roi Cohen, joined him in his quest for outperforming cybersecurity systems. Today, the company is responsible for engineering operations with over 150 customers worldwide. That aside, there are ten things you didn’t know about Michael Assraf.

1. He started his Vicarius company in a garage with three of his friends

Assraf always knew that the computer is home to numerous data, some beneficial while others sabotaged. In his interview with Ditsa Keren of Website Planet, Assraf maintains that Vicarius was a startup compounded by accident in 2016. With his two acquaintances (Yossi Zeévi and Roi Cohen), he discovered that companies could use outperforming cybersecurity software to protect their data from malicious hackers. Since then, their product and company have shaped how startups conduct their business processes. The software addresses vulnerability and how to mitigate the stressors through security patches.

2. He earned his MBA from Tel Aviv University

Assraf earned his MBA in Management of Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship (MoTIE) from Tel Aviv University, the largest university in the country. Each time he attends an interview, he must mention and credit his former university for shaping him into what he is today. Before Tel Aviv University, Assraf was a student at Jerusalem College of Engineering, where he studied Industrial Engineering and Management. He also attended Mae Boyer High School and Rene Cassin Junior High, specializing in Chemistry and Geography.

3. He believes that the CoVID-19 pandemic made businesses more self-sufficient

During his interview with Website Planet, Assraf addresses the blessings in disguise that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought. Now more than ever, companies that embraced modern learning and operated from the cloud, such as SaaS products, never felt the harsh impact of the economic crisis. It took equipping every employee with a computer and allowing them to work on the go.

4. He helped raise $24 million to expand his team and engineering operations

According to HelpNetSecurity, Assraf, with his two co-founding partners, helped raise $24 million to reorganize the vulnerability remediation market for the modern-day remote and cloud-based world. The product is designed to reduce the risk of not having cybersecurity rather than assessing it. He joined entrepreneurs like Michael Feiertag of AllegisCyber Capital to raise funds, hoping for more secure cyberspace for a better tomorrow.

5. Assraf hails from Jerusalem, Israel

Did you know that Israel ranks first in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, according to ISRAEL21C? That means 145 per 10,000 people are technologists compared to 85 in the US. It is no wonder Assraf, an Israel-born cybersecurity expert, used his scientific knowledge and understanding to create Vicarius in the US.

6. Assraf and his co-founding partners believe in mentoring talented people in the IT world

Thanks to the capital Assraf and his co-founding partners made, Vicarius has expanded, tripling the number of employees since its first launch. He hopes to grow their sales, support, and engineering operations to help over 150 customers worldwide. They rely on TOPIA, a cybersecurity software, to consolidate IT and security teams. The result is a more efficient patching workflow.

7. He believes successful vendors embrace an integrated approach to doing business

According to Website Planet, Assraf says, “Clients don’t want ten vendors selling them different products. They want this vendor to have everything, and they want everything to be automated and orchestrated. If you don’t have the full capacity, you will need to integrate with other products. The major trends right now are integration, consolidation, and automation”. From his verbatim, it doesn’t take rocket science to realize that Assraf is an entrepreneur who believes in passion and the zeal to pursue greatness.

8. He worked at Atlis Labs as a vice president of Research and Development (May 2015-April 2016)

Did you know that Assraf has background knowledge in medicine besides IT? It is no surprise that he was appointed the vice president of Research and Development between May 2015 and April 2016. He partook in tasks like:

• Managing the company’s R&D team
• Implemented continuous integration, and automated documentation solutions

Considering how passionate he is about science, he discovered that he could start his own company and touch the lives of millions of people around the world. That’s how he started his company, Vicarius.

9. He was a system architect (October 2014- May 2015)

Michael Assraf was also a system architect at Altis Labs, where he was in charge of customizing the company’s initial product. His primary duties were:

• To initiate custom search engine
• To use auto-scaled SQS application environments to map-reduce custom implementation.
• To spring back end with Redis, MySQL, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch persistent layers.
• He was promoted to vice president of Research and Development with the same firm in May 2015.

10. He worked at Idomoo as a java developer (July 2013-June, 2014)

Before Altis, Assraf was a java developer at Idomoo, which assists brands in personalizing the customer experience and delivering on their promises. The company works by moving each customer to action by addressing them individually with relevant expertise that matters. Today, the world is filled with a never-ending content stream, making it daunting and irrelevant. Idomoo seeks to address that by fueling customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and retention. The company also teams up with leaders in telecommunication, utilities, banking, insurance, and other industries to create personalized videos as marketing campaigns, customer experience, and brand loyalty programs.

Conclusion

In a world where artificial intelligence is fast-changing and replacing human input, it was only a matter of time before talented IT specialists like Assraf took over cyberspace. His company has partaken various tasks, including providing a haven from fraudsters. Going by the numerous achievements Vicarius has made over the years, it is no surprise that Assraf and his co-founding partners break the ceiling on cybersecurity matters.