For cybersecurity professionals, teaching students or studying the classics may not be a conventional career path. However, the founders of the independent security consultancy Credible Security believe that having diverse backgrounds can be a significant advantage.

“Our experience of working together has shown us that what sets an acceptable security approach apart from a great one is not technical knowledge, skill sets, or backgrounds,” says co-founder Josh Yavor. While qualifications are essential, what’s more critical is having a security team with leadership that possesses empathy, effective communication skills, and a focus on building trust-based relationships.

Yavor, along with Kim Burton and Jessica Walters, launched Credible Security in early 2025. The company collaborates with business-to-business companies that offer cloud services and software-as-a-service, with a particular focus on underserved teams within organizations. These teams include go-to-market teams with public-facing functions and early-stage companies that are still developing their security strategy while forming a growth plan.

Diversity Leads to Stronger Security Mindset

The founding partners, who had previously worked together at Tessian, Cisco, and Duo Security, possess a unique blend of experiences. When Proofpoint acquired Tessian in 2023, Yavor was the CISO, Burton was the head of trust and compliance, and Walters was the senior security manager. Each had extensive security experience, but they had taken different paths to get there.

Before holding security leadership roles at Cisco Secure, Duo Security, and Facebook, Yavor was a school teacher and owned an IT consulting business. Burton studied literature and classical languages in graduate school. Walters was the chief of staff of Cisco’s Security Business Group team. All three credit their experiences at Duo Security with demonstrating the value of bringing together practitioners from diverse backgrounds.

The varied backgrounds of the team members enable them to relate to different experiences and avoid groupthink. “When you encounter something new, everyone can draw from their unique experiences,” Burton explains. “This diversity of perspectives is essential in security, where a team with similar backgrounds and ideas may struggle to think outside the box.”

Developing Strategy With a Trusted Partner

Having diverse perspectives is crucial when helping customers develop and execute their cloud strategies, according to the trio. Cloud services impact every aspect of people’s lives, so B2B enterprises must prioritize building trust with end-users as part of their strategy. While enterprises have made progress in thinking about risk management over the past 10-15 years, they still struggle to master strategy in all areas, Yavor notes.

Credible Security focuses on the missing piece of the puzzle: having consistent strategy and outcomes in evaluating and delivering trust on both sides of the equation. Trust is critical at every stage of the pipeline, and with proactive security thinking and investment, businesses can achieve better results.

“We’re helping our clients simplify their strategies and align them with their business objectives, making it easier to develop not just minimum viable security, but using it as a competitive advantage to earn and maintain customer trust,” Yavor explains.

Many companies conflate trust with compliance, focusing on checkbox exercises for auditors rather than building genuine trust. Burton emphasizes that compliance is only a way to verify trustworthiness, and trust develops when consultants demonstrate shared values and goals.

“It’s about designing your product and process so that customers understand you’ll do what’s best for them,” Burton says.

‘Layered Experiences’

Credible Security offers the advantage of tapping into the team’s experience as both buyers and developers of security products.

“We have layered experiences from both sides of the process, and we’ve seen teams and brands that have shown up in a way that we’d want our family members to experience,” Walters says. The variety of positions they’ve held, including CISO, head of compliance, and chief of staff, also provides internal perspective, Yavor adds.

“One of the most exciting differentiators about our company is that all three of us have been in the roles we’re seeking to help,” Yavor says. “We’ve actually done the work, and that’s what sets us apart.”