theCUBE + NYSE Wired @ RSAC 2025 | Tim Freestone, Kiteworks

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Dave Vellante

Co-Founder & Co-CEO

SiliconANGLE Media, Inc.

Tim Freestone

CMO

Kiteworks

play_circle_outline Kiteworks: enabling companies to deploy private data networks focused on securing data.

play_circle_outline AI integration: AI data gateway, tracking and controlling data for enterprise AI systems.

play_circle_outline Partner ecosystem: Preferred distributor Climb Channel, partner-first cybersecurity vendor.

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Tim Freestone, Kiteworks

Dave Vellante

Co-Founder & Co-CEO SiliconANGLE Media, Inc.

HOST

Tim Freestone

CMO Kiteworks

Tim Freestone, Chief Marketing Officer at Kiteworks, discusses innovative strategies for secure data movement at RSAC 2025 with theCUBE. This engaging conversation explores the intricacies of Kiteworks' approach to cybersecurity, highlighting their status as a leading solution in data security.

The conversation delves into Freestone's extensive expertise in data security and marketing. The discussion navigates through the core principles of Kiteworks' private data networks and their Zero Trust approach, emphasizing the importance of extending data se... Read more

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What does Kiteworks enable companies to deploy and focus on in terms of cybersecurity? add

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Tim Freestone, Kiteworks

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Dave Vellante

>> All right, everybody. Welcome back to theCUBE After Dark. We're here in the Embarcadero at Lamar. My name is Dave Vellante. John Furrier is also here, but I'm doing the duty right now. John covered it this afternoon and this morning over at Moscone West, just wall-to-wall coverage of RSAC. We're here with open policy and the NYSE Wired, Anisha. And it's our second year doing theCUBE After Dark at RSAC. Excited to have Tim Freestone here as the CMO of Kiteworks. Good to see you. Thanks for coming on.

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah, thanks Dave. Appreciate it.

Dave Vellante

>> Give us the bumper sticker on Kiteworks.

Tim Freestone

>> Sure. So Kiteworks enables our companies to deploy what we call private data networks. And as the name might indicate, it's a network dedicated to the movement of private data. So if you think about cybersecurity in general, the point with the exception of sabotage is to secure data. And we've made it our point then to put the security at the data layer. Many companies focus on infrastructure, network, web applications, the cloud; we focus on data.

Dave Vellante

>> It's a data problem.

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah. Exactly. And just to extend on that and kind of close it off, it's about extending not just security, but Zero Trust as a concept to the data layer as well. So least privilege access to your data, always on monitoring, never trust, always verify. These principles need to be extended down to the data layer. And we do that for clients.

Dave Vellante

>> I mean, I'm looking at your customer list, I mean, you guys are legit. You've got HPE, Hyundai, Kohler, Heinz, Bombardier, eBay, MITRE, Shell Oil, Target, on and on and on. Give us the history. How long have you been around? How have you knocked down these brand-name companies? I mean, these are not easy companies to sell to.

Tim Freestone

>> Sure. So obviously we're not a startup, but I will say that we've essentially operated as one for about six years when our CEO, Jonathan Yaron, took over. Prior to that, we'd been around and known more affectionately in the industry as a company called Accellion, but really dedicated to just one use case of secure file sharing. When Jonathan Yaron came on, he saw that there was a bigger challenge for the customers, which was, it's not just about securing data that you share as files, but it's about securing data through all of the channels through which data move. And then started to create it as more of a platform play, covering email, file share, managed file transfer, APIs, SFTP, any way that data can move and create a platform out of it. Three or four years ago, four years ago now, I came on and I said, "Hey..." The platform name was Kiteworks, the company name was Accellion. And I basically just said, "Look, we've got a brand problem, let's get rid of the name Accellion. Let's elevate the name Kiteworks." And I would say for the past six to five years, we really have reinvented and sort of acted as a startup, but those customers have been with us for a long time.

Dave Vellante

>> So public policy has really started to pay attention to cyber threats. I mean, certainly the last administration did some executive orders, and you've got the cyber incidents, disclosure orders, and things of that nature. How has public policy affected your business? How your customers perceive you and their actions in terms of what they've been required actually to do?

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah. I mean, it's... We were saying before we went on here, we were talking a little bit about this, but we look at customer decisions falling in basically two buckets for our customers. One is the board decrees it to be so, and budget gets disseminated as such. Or the governments do, federal and state governments, and that's where policy comes in and regulators come in. And that's just... Those are the entities that are creating priorities for our customers. And so we look at lobbying and policymakers as a real critical part of the process for us as a solution provider, but for our customers in terms of where they spend their money and how they make decisions. So it's a big deal.

Dave Vellante

>> So what kind of data can you securely move? Private data, is it emails? Is it data that floats around APIs?

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah.

Dave Vellante

>> Any data? How do you... What's the scope of your ability?

Tim Freestone

>> Sure. So short answer is any data when it moves. So we're not making a play for the data storage space that's been well covered for the most part. We come in when it's-

Dave Vellante

>> Yes and no.

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah. Maybe we have a play there too, but we really focus on when it moves and when it's in use, and any data. Now, I'll say any data, but where our customers really have trouble is unstructured data for the most part.

Dave Vellante

>> Unstructured data.

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah, unstructured data. Because really structured data is sitting in a database being queried actively by applications. So then it becomes a bit about perimeter security, network security. But when it becomes unstructured, whether it's a database or documents and moves from person to person or machine to machine, that's where our customers are having real difficulty tracking where it goes, who sent it, how to get there, how long was it there. And this is, again, when regulators and policymakers become important because they're coming near our customers and saying, "Hey, where did all that PII go? Where did it go?" And we give our customers the ability to give an answer to that question.

Dave Vellante

>> So is it metadata and lineage? Because a lot of people say, "Well, I'm just going to encrypt the data in motion. What's the big deal?" But it's what happened, who did it?

Tim Freestone

>> Exactly.

Dave Vellante

>> It's all the lineage.

Tim Freestone

>> Correct.

Dave Vellante

>> And the metadata associated with that, that's your wheelhouse. Is that right?

Tim Freestone

>> Correct. I mean, encryption's table stakes. We, of course, encrypt, double encryption file disk level, but controlling who does what with it, that's the first layer, which is the control part of our platform. And that's where the Zero Trust principles come in. And then tracking. So at metadata layer, all of the material information of what happened to that data we roll up to our customers and we package it up in a way that makes it easier for them to prove CMMC compliance, HIPAA compliance, all those different types of regulations.

Dave Vellante

>> So the business case really is compliance, is that right?

Tim Freestone

>> Yes. That's the business case.

Dave Vellante

>> Okay. So it's like binary, you got to do it, you do it. But the holy grail of compliance business cases is there's actually other business value that you can drive. What are some of those maybe hidden gems that you guys might have found, those kind of maybe unintended positive consequences of implementing your system?

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah. Well, I mean, one of the big ones is just providing a platform for organizing what they have that's sensitive. That's a big deal.

Dave Vellante

>> Just even knowing.

Tim Freestone

>> Just knowing, right? And giving a venue and a system for our customers to be confident that they aren't exposing their customers' data to the wrong people at the wrong time and becoming a liability. So yes, compliance is a driver, but we were in business and driving business long before all the regulators came out with all of those requirements.

Dave Vellante

>> How are you approaching AI? Where do you kind of draw the line? There's a lot of automation, obviously. There's a lot of automated classification. Everybody's worried about data leakage. How do you handle, that and where do you kind of draw the line on going all in on AI and automation versus trying to balance just caution?

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah. So we have AI in our platform. I mean, you have to have it to even be in market today. So that's table stakes. But where we deliver value for our customers is we have a use case that we call the AI data gateway. So if you think about how customers are driving value of especially large language models in an enterprise, in a private setting, they need to create knowledge bases that LLMs can query to provide data information to their employees, and different use cases throughout. Customer support needs to understand tickets and how to solve problems. So we act as the control layer between systems of record like Salesforce, NetSuite, all of these different places where private data lives. We move that data into the knowledge base of an enterprise AI system so that the large language model can leverage it. When we do that is we provide the tracking and controls of what data goes into that system for use. And it's... excuse me, the same use case and value for any other system moving data. It's just a new system moving data.

Dave Vellante

>> Explain your partner ecosystem. Maybe paint a picture, if you would.

Tim Freestone

>> Sure. As with most enterprise technology and cyber vendors, we have a robust partner ecosystem. We do have a couple of preferred distributors, probably I'd say a preferred distributor. Climb Channel has been a really solid distributor for us for several years now. We work with a lot of the usual suspects, Guidepoint, SHI, WWT, on and on and on. It's critical to us. We consider ourselves a partner-first cybersecurity vendor. It's not just lip service. We drive our deals through the channel. Obviously, we get a significant portion of our deals from the channel. So it's really critical to our success.

Dave Vellante

>> And then what's your go to market?

Tim Freestone

>> In what context?

Dave Vellante

>> Is it direct sales? Is it all through the channel?

Tim Freestone

>> It's a mix, but it's heavily channel weighted.

Dave Vellante

>> Okay. So your direct sales would be what? Channel support, sort of an overlay? Is that right?

Tim Freestone

>> The direct sales isn't channel support. So we do have a CAM organization. They do do direct sales, but they always bring in a channel partner in the process to ensure delivery fulfillment.

Dave Vellante

>> And what's your sales cycle look like? Is it...

Tim Freestone

>> It's gotten a lot shorter for... We're not sure of the reason other than maybe just increased demand for the data layer security. But enterprise sales cycles last about 104 days, which is not bad for... And we're talking enterprise anywhere from, in terms of deal size, a hundred thousand to a million plus. It's a hundred days.

Dave Vellante

>> And what do you got going on at RSA other than, "Thank you for attending this event"? But-

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah, of course....

Dave Vellante

>> what else is happening here?

Tim Freestone

>> Well, RSA is sort of like one of those things you love to hate and hate to love, but we do have a booth, it's got goats in it. One of the challenges-

Dave Vellante

>> Wait, goats like live goats?

Tim Freestone

>> We have... So last year we had puppies. We broke the seal for puppies. I think other vendors are having puppies. And this year we have goats because we have this feeling that Kiteworks is the goat for data security. So we brought... We have six-

Dave Vellante

>> The Tom Brady of data security.

Tim Freestone

>> We have six to eight dwarf goats in our booth. So come by and see the goats.

Dave Vellante

>> Literally, you got goats?

Tim Freestone

>> We got goats.

Dave Vellante

>> Live goats?

Tim Freestone

>> Live goats.

Dave Vellante

>> Goats are stinky, Tim.

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah, I know. We got a big booth.

Dave Vellante

>> I live in a farm town, man. We go by the goat and ride my bike. Whoa!

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah, yeah. You can't walk by a stinky booth full of goats and not stop. Let's just say that.

Dave Vellante

>> So you're from San Francisco?

Tim Freestone

>> I live in the area. I live in San Jose.

Dave Vellante

>> But you grew up in the Bay Area?

Tim Freestone

>> No, no, actually I grew up in... It is long story. You got time? No, I grew up in Montana. I lived in New York City for 15 years and I've lived here for about 10.

Dave Vellante

>> Oh, okay. Because I thought you maybe from the Bay Area. I said Tom Brady's a goat.

Tim Freestone

>> No, no, no.

Dave Vellante

>> I thought you were going to say Montana would be the goat when you're out here. Of course, you're from Montana.

Tim Freestone

>> So I have a experience with goats. Yes, from Montana. And also I'll note where for every demo that we schedule at the goat booth, we're donating to 4-H.

Dave Vellante

>> Oh, cool.

Tim Freestone

>> People may know what 4-H is.

Dave Vellante

>> Yeah, 4-H is awesome. The kids participate and they give back, so that's nice. Well, Tim, great to meet you. Thanks so much-

Tim Freestone

>> Yeah, thanks a lot....

Dave Vellante

>> for coming to theCUBE.

Tim Freestone

>> Appreciate it. Take care.

Dave Vellante

>> All right. And thank you for watching. I'm going to call it theCUBE at sundown now, guys, I'll be calling it theCUBE After Dark, but it's still light out. So this is Dave Vellante. John Furrier is here. You're watching theCUBE at RSAC 2025. We're here with open policy and NYSC Wired right back, right after this short break.