Digital Asset Redemption Lands Channel Vet George Just

Ransomware negotiation and payment solutions provider Digital Asset Redemption has tapped George Just to head up its sales and channel efforts.

Just moves from his role as chief revenue officer at Threater (formerly ThreatBlockr) to serve as chief revenue officer at Digital Asset Redemption (DAR). He will help the provider establish relationships with different vendors, managed service providers (MSPs) and technology advisors.

DAR's George Just

“We are thrilled to have George join the DAR team to help us drive our unique offerings for confronting cybercrime to a wider audience,” DAR co-founder Matthew Leidlein said. “His experiences creating sales and partnerships in the MSP and channel spaces will be critical to DAR’s expansion as we try to help more companies be ready to confront the harsh realities of the digital economy.”

What Is Digital Asset Redemption?

The six-year old company provides services to incident response teams that are mitigating cybercrime.

In particularl, Just said DAR helps medium-level enterprises that have suffered a ransomware attack or cyber extortion. He explained that the process of sending payment to the ransomware provider is a complicated process. Part of that process is possessing actual cryptocurrency and the ability to show the cybercriminal proof of a large-enough bitcoin wallet.

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And DAR's team works to negotiate prices down.

Whether or not a price reduction occurs, Just said the service allows businesses to move forward in the face of a breach.

"When the negotiation starts, the harassment ceases. They stop calling the CEO every hour. Now you can get your PR ramped up. You can get your legal stuff ramped up. You can engage the insurance company. You can do all of those thing," he told Channel Futures. "Now you're in a position where deciding whether or not to pay a ransom is a business decision. It's not a decision you have to make because you're under pressure."

DAR operates as a subscription service, rather than teaming with the customer on the day of the ransomware.

"Now they really do have a full incident response team all the way through ransomware negotiation and payment (if required), as opposed to just going to the yellow pages in the middle of an event," he said.

Channel Efforts

Just said DAR has leveraged referral partnerships in the past. Those relationships include a few large cybersecurity platform vendors, the attorney community (which includes breach counsel) and cybersecurity insurance providers.

Just will formalize and expand DAR's referral network. He'll tap into relationships he's built as a vendor leader in the technology services distributor (TSD) community. Just in his stints leading channels at Talari Networks and Threater, he held agreements with TSDs to sell with technology advisors (agents). He also grew relationships with other software and service providers in the TSD portfolio. Many of those vendors – particularly managed security service providers (MSSPs) and other cybersecurity-focused suppliers – will be targets for Just and DAR.

Just said DAR is offering industry-standard 20% compensation, which will recur on a monthly basis. Technology advisors can also take part in the route to market.

"By partnering with MSPs and other partners, we can ensure that our innovative services reach a broader audience, providing them with both the plans and support they need during their most challenging times," he said.