About Attestiv Inc.

Mission

We are on a mission to put authenticity into all digital media.

In an age where fake and AI-generated photos, videos and documents have proliferated and are threatening numerous industries, Attestiv provides a first-of-its-kind, cloud-scale platform to ensure the authenticity and validity of digital assets utilizing patented AI technology. We help organizations of all types improve customer experience, prevent losses, and protect their reputations with fraud analysis and deep inspection of digital media.

Our Story

In 2018, “deepfakes” began to emerge as an insidious problem across the internet, making it easy to alter and distort reality via AI-generated digital media. With two successful startups under their belt and a background in data protection, Nicos Vekiarides and John Bates were working on new ways to protect data from loss, corruption and cyber attacks. They identified the question of “is this photo, video or document real?” as the newest twist to the data integrity problem that the industry had not yet solved.

Using their expertise, they addressed an emerging need for an AI solution that could discern the authenticity of photos, videos and documents – rapidly identifying fakes, alterations and images and videos created via generative AI.

With an enterprise background, they created a scalable cloud solution using AI analysis to rapidly score photos, videos and documents on their validity, which became the Attestiv SaaS Platform, solving targeted problems within insurance and other business sectors reliant on digital media like photos, videos or documents as a part of their business functions.

Today, the rapid rise and commoditization of “text to image” and “text to video” generative AI have catapulted Attestiv as the choice platform for businesses looking to protect against fake photos, videos and documents, prevent generative AI fraud and guard their reputations.

In 2018, the topic of “fake news” and “deepfakes” began to emerge as a growing problem in news, across the internet and in people’s everyday personal and business lives.

With backgrounds in data storage, Nicos Vekiarides, John Bates and Mark Morley were always working on better, faster, cheaper and more secure ways to store data.  

Using their expertise in this area, they identified an emerging need for a solution that could discern the authenticity of  assets stored, solving targeted problems within business sectors reliant on media like photos, videos or documents as a part of their business functions.

This solution would take a great first step so that people can actually understand what’s authentic, what might have been tampered with, and start to solve this growing epidemic.

With that, the idea to build the Attestiv platform technology was born.

Team

Nicos Vekiarides

CEO

Manny Parasirakis

Chief Architect

Esteban Hernandez

Director of Product Management

Paul Duran

Sr. Director Business Development

John Hamilton

Sr. Director Business Development

Brie Pendleton

Digital
Strategy & Marketing

Isaac Dobbins

Software Engineer

Eyoel Demissie

Software Engineer

Alex Feinberg

Software Engineer

Advisors

Bryan Falchuk

Insurance Industry Executive & Author

David Dunn

Insurance Industry Executive

Carlos Cashman

Entrepreneur & Technology Executive

Dan Geer

Cybersecurity Author

Steve McLellan

Cybersecurity & Technology Executive

Investors

Board of Directors

Nicos Vekiarides

CEO and Board Member

John Bates

CTO and Board Member

Matt Walsh

Board Member

Industry Standards

Awards & Recognitions

Nicos Vekiarides

Nicos Vekiarides

Nicos Vekiarides is the Chief Executive Officer & co-founder of Attestiv. He has spent the past 20+ years in enterprise IT and cloud, as a CEO & entrepreneur, bringing innovative new technologies to market. His previous startup, TwinStrata, an innovative cloud storage company where he pioneered cloud-integrated storage for the enterprise, was acquired by EMC in 2014. Before that, he brought to market the industry’s first storage virtualization appliance for StorageApps, a company later acquired by HP.

Nicos holds 6 technology patents in storage, networking and cloud technology and has published numerous articles on new technologies. Nicos is a partner at Mentors Fund, an early-stage venture fund, a mentor at Founder Institute Boston, where he coaches first-time entrepreneurs, and an advisor to several companies. Nicos holds degrees from MIT and Carnegie Mellon University.

John Bates

John Bates

John Bates is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Attestiv.

He has spent thirty years working in enterprise technology, developing methods and products to integrate business processes with cloud storage and computing. John has worked closely with Nicos at several startups, including TwinStrata and StorageApps, acquired by EMC and HP, respectively. Prior to them, John started his professional life at Encore Computers, where his work was identified as a key technology in their acquisition by Sun Microsystems.

John holds eight patents in assorted enterprise technologies, with several more presently pending. He holds a degree from Brown University.

Mark Morley

Mark Morley is the Chief Operating Officer of Attestiv.

He received his formative Data Integrity training at Deloitte. Served as the CFO of Iomega (NYSE), the international manufacturer of Zip storage devices, at the time,  the second fastest-growing public company in the U.S.. He served as the CFO of Encore Computer (NASDAQ) as it grew from Revenue of $2 million to over $200 million. During “Desert Storm”, Mark was required to hold the highest U.S. and NATO clearances.

Mark authored a seminal article on Data Integrity online (Wall Street Journal Online). Additionally, he served as EVP, General Counsel and CFO at Digital Guardian, a high-growth cybersecurity company.

Earlier in his career, he worked at an independent insurance agency, Amica as a claims representative, and was the CEO of the captive insurance subsidiary of a NYSE company.

He obtained Bachelor (Economics) and Doctor of Law degrees from Boston College and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.

Esteban Hernandez

Esteban Hernandez

A passionate innovator, designer, and engineer, Esteban directs Attestiv’s product development and strategy while providing insight and counsel on how to implement new technologies best to satisfy market needs and demands. He is an experienced software developer who also has experience in the drone and robotics space.

Esteban works closely with the engineering team to find the best ways to develop new products and solutions.Prior to his work at Attestiv, Esteban had previously founded and co-founded several ventures: ranging from digital ID management to video game development. His extensive entrepreneurial experiences give Esteban a unique insight into problem-solving and allow him to combine his knowledge of technology and engineering with his passion for business and innovation. Esteban obtained a B.S. in Business Management from Utah Valley University and is a Stanford University Innovation Fellow.

Paul Duran

Paul Duran

Paul Duran is a Senior Director of Business Development at Attestiv

He is an experienced high-tech Business Executive: He has worked as a Former VP Sales & Marketing at Quake Global, Director Marketing at Luxtera, Director Marketing at Netlist, and  Director Marketing at Astute Networks. 

He has direct experience with IoT, Digital Storage, Cloud/SaaS Services, and Digital Transformation Technologies. 

He has obtained degrees in Engineering and Business: B.S. MIT, M.S. MIT, and M.B.A Arizona State University.

John Hamilton

John Hamilton

John Hamilton is a Senior Director of Business Development at Attestiv.

A high-tech Business Executive with previous tenures as US Business Development Manager for D4t4 Solutions and Callminer, US Channel Sales Manager at Ipswitch, VP of Business Development at startup Revivio (acquired by Symantec) and National Channels Manager at Hewlett Packard for the Procurve Networking Group.

With a strong technical background he has extensive experience in data/speech analytics, Cloud/SaaS Services, Digital Storage, Data Networks and Network Management.

He obtained a BSc (Hons) degree in Pure and Applied Chemistry from City University of London.

Brie Pendleton

Brie Pendleton

Brie Pendleton is Attestiv’s Director of Digital Strategy and Marketing.

In her role at Attestiv, Brie brings her experience in web strategy, UX, design and marketing to raise brand awareness, lead digital projects and execute sales and marketing campaigns.  She also works closely with the engineering team on UI/UX initiatives.

Prior to joining Attestiv, Brie ran her own consultancy working primarily with startups to build strong web and digital strategies. Previously, Brie has held roles in web strategy, design and user training at Harvard University and Highland Capital Partners.

Isaac Dobbins

Isaac Dobbins

Eyoel Demissie

Eyoel Demissie

Eyoel is a full stack engineer at Attestiv. Over his tenure, he has worked on building and maintaining the Attestiv dashboard as well as the backend API services, along with developing and training OCR models.

Prior to Attestiv, Eyoel received his BS in Radiation Biology from Suffolk University, but since has shifted his career into Software Development after completing his AS in computer science along with an Object Orientated Programming Certificate. In addition, Eyoel has earned internship experiences at academic institutions such as Princeton and Tufts University, as well as at a Boston based late stage startup called Drift.

Outside of Attestiv, Eyoel is an active member of Hack Diversity, a community built around providing access to the tech industry for people coming from underrepresented communities. He also enjoys spending his free time with family, and working on personal projects.

Alex Feinberg

Alex Feinberg

Alex is a full stack software engineer. During his time at Attestiv, Alex has assisted in test development, data engineering, and training document analysis models.

Prior to Attestiv, Alex received his BS in Finance and Data Science from Marist College. He has previous start-up experience working as a full stack engineer for Angelify.io, where Alex gained experience in front-end engineering, as well as backend API development. Additionally, Alex earned internship experience at Triton.ai, a New York City-based start-up. Outside of Attestiv, Alex enjoys spending his free time biking, weight lifting, surfing, and working on personal projects.

Bryan Falchuk

Bryan Falchuk

Bryan Falchuk is the Managing Partner of Insurance Evolution Partners, which advises carriers and their partners on how to navigate an evolving industry facing disruption and change. Bryan spent 20 years in insurance, including serving as Head of Claims for Hiscox USA, leading Growth for the InsurTech, Hi Marley, and was a consultant in McKinsey & Company’s insurance practice. 

Bryan is a best-selling author and public speaker, including several TEDx Talks. His best-selling book, The Future of Insurance: From Disruption to Evolution, shares case studies of seven carriers who overcame the barriers to change we face in the industry to innovate in the face of disruptive threats.

David A Dunn

David A. Dunn

David Dunn is an executive and advisor with 30+ years of experience in the insurance industry.

Most recently, David has served as President and CEO of Carolina Casualty Insurance Company. Prior to that role, he held the position of Present for both RLI Insurance and American International Group (AIG). David began his insurance career at National Interstate Corporation, an independently operated subsidiary of Great American Insurance Company, as its Founder, Vice President and Director.

Dan Geer

Dan Geer

Dan Geer is a computer security analyst and risk management specialist. He is recognized for raising awareness of critical computer and network security issues before the risks were widely understood, and for ground-breaking work on the economics of security.

Geer is currently the chief information security officer for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in technology to support the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 2003, Geer’s 24-page report entitled “CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly” was released by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). The paper argued that Microsoft’s dominance of desktop computer operating systems is a threat to national security. Geer was fired (from consultancy @Stake) the day the report was made public. Geer has cited subsequent changes in the Vista operating system (notably a location-randomization feature) as evidence that Microsoft “accepted the paper.”

Geer received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, where he was a member of the Theta Deuteron charge of Theta Delta Chi fraternity. He also received a Sc.D. in biostatistics from Harvard University.

Steve MacLellan

Steve MacLellan

Steve MacLellan is the President of Blue Sky Management & Research, a strategy consulting company in Lincoln, MA.  Blue Sky works with startups in the Cyber Security, Cloud, Blockchain, AI, VR, and DevSecOps product space.  Consulting clients include SAP, Cardinal Health, CV Telecom, Deltix Lab, TransCap, Advanced Neural Biometrics, and the AI Research Group.

For over 26 years, Steve led innovation and advanced technology initiatives at Fidelity Investments including Cyber Security, Internet business development, Enterprise Architecture, and application development.  Steve worked globally for Fidelity in the US, Canada, UK, EU, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan.

Steve recently worked at SAP as an executive in the Office of the CSO at SAP in the US and Germany.   At SAP Steve led important Cloud and cybersecurity programs including cyber transformation, security workforce development, DevSecOps, and IT risk management.

Steve is a recognized expert in cybersecurity and using strategic technologies for competitive advantage.  He holds US Patent 103,33,908 on “Transaction-based secure information delivery and assessment”.  Extensive speaking experience at company, industry, and government events including MIT (“Building Internet Architectures for High Availability”), ISACA (“Post-9/11 IT Security”), and the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) (“Leveraging the Internet for Strategic Business Advantage”). Judge for the Mass Challenge global start-up competitions from 2012-2021. Steve has been quoted in articles by Xconomy, Christian Science Monitor, Network World, and Venture Beat.

Steve is on the advisory boards of Attestiv, ZeroNorth, Arkivum, Advoqt, and eShare.   Exits include Samebug (Rollbar), Ping Identity (Vista Equity Partners), and Lancope (Cisco).  Founder of Boston Global Advisors LLC (innovation consulting), Integris LLC (M&A), and SecuritiNet (secure Cloud delivery).  Co-founder of the influential Advanced Cyber Security Center (ACSC), in partnership with MassInsight and MITRE.  Steve sponsored the foundational work of the Liberty Alliance that led to thousands of successful federated Cloud identity installations.

Steve is a graduate of Boston College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.  Guest lecturer in the MIT/Portugal’s Building Global Innovators (BGI) international accelerator program from 2014-2019.  Steve earned graduate certificates from Harvard University (Cybersecurity and Managing Risk) and MIT Sloan (Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Technologies).

Matt Walsh

Matt Walsh

Prior to founding Castle Island Ventures, Matt was a Vice President at Fidelity Investments where he led a number of the firm’s blockchain / cryptoasset initiatives. While at Fidelity, he led the creation, operationalization, and the investment strategy of a private fund focused exclusively on the cryptoasset sector.

Matt holds a BS in Business Administration from Babson College and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Manny Parasirakis

Manny Parasirakis

Manny Parasirakis is Attestiv’s Chief Architect helping to lead the engineering teams in the company. He is a member of the founding team and is the original author of the Attestiv backend services. Manny has over 25 years in the software industry.

Prior to joining Attestiv, Manny spent 20 years in eCommerce. In those 20 years he was a Lead Member of Technical Staff at Salesforce (via an acquisition of Demandware Inc). and a Software Architect at ATG (acquired by Oracle). His contributions to the eCommerce industry have helped many of the world’s leading eCommerce websites and continue to be used today.