Robert R. Ackerman

Robert R. Ackerman Jr. is the founder and managing director of AllegisCyber, an early stage venture capital firm specializing in cybersecurity, and a co-founder and executive at DataTribe, a cybersecurity startup studio in metropolitan Washington D.C.

Recent posts

Facebook: Lip Service to Privacy Is Over
As publicity-shy Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before both houses of Congress last week amid an avalanche of criticism about the dearth of user privacy on the world’s biggest social... Read more »
The State of Cybersecurity Insurance Today
Cyber incidents are considered the No. 1 emerging risk for enterprises long-term. No surprise, then, that cybersecurity insurance policy premiums are approaching $2.75 billion a year. Some experts believe this figure... Read more »
Trump Administration Needs To Set U.S. Cybersecurity Mandates
Cybersecurity is the penultimate existential risk to the United States—economically, militarily, socially, and as we have seen recently, politically. The nature of cyber is asymmetric, and given the size of the... Read more »
Industry Needs Common Security Standards to Thwart IoT Attacks
A silver lining has emerged in the wake of the massive and well-publicized denial-of-service attack launched less than two months ago by hackers using millions of IoT devices to cripple the... Read more »
The Myth Of A Secure Back Door For Encryption
It seems like an appealing move–give the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, as well as our spy organizations, a back door—a “golden key”—to unlock encrypted communications to help catch criminals... Read more »
Note to Government: Mandate Cybersecurity, Then Get Out of the Way
The digital economy stands on uncertain ground.
From Target to Adobe, cybercriminals have infiltrated the networks of some of the largest businesses in the United States, turning 2013 into a record-setting... Read more »
The Inside Story: What CISOs Know About Cybersecurity
In the wake of aggressive press coverage of recent major breaches at companies from Target to Neiman Marcus, cybersecurity has finally moved out of the shadows to become a top-of-mind issue... Read more »
Cyber Attacks: A Growing Threat to the U.S. Economy
The cost of ubiquitous cyber attacks and cyber probes in the United States and the rest of the world is a staggering, ever-growing challenge. Antivirus firm Symantec estimated the 2011 global... Read more »
The iPhone Before the Apple iPhone
Ask most people to tell you the story of the iPhone, and you’ll likely hear about how an innovative computer company took the traditional telephone, combined it with the Internet, and... Read more »
An Opportunity for Congress to Vote for Job Creation
Congressional leaders of both parties have a short-term opportunity to come together in rare bipartisan fashion and get on the right side of American economic growth and job creation. With the... Read more »
“Vulture” Capital? Far From It
They say the first casualty of war is the truth. Based upon recent events in the U.S. presidential elections, it looks like the truth is a casualty in politics as well.... Read more »
Benefits and Roadblocks of Corporate Partnering for Startups
Fifteen years ago, the expansion model of a startup was fairly linear: The first three years were dedicated to building the business domestically. Year four generally saw European expansion. And by... Read more »
SBIR Overhaul Stalls In the Senate, to the Detriment of VC-Backed Innovation
Venture capital-backed startups got a slap on the back this week, but that was followed by a slap in the face in the latest round of Washington political gamesmanship over how... Read more »
Dream of an IPO, but Plan for an Acquisition
It’s now very clear to me: a successful M&A exit is far more likely for entrepreneurs than the once vaunted IPO. Structural changes in the venture-IPO ecosystem over the past 15... Read more »