Ken Miller, Chairman of Saikou Security

Whilst most people, aged XX would be slowing down the pace and heading for the golf course, Ken Miller has taken a different approach.

He has invested his 40 years’ experience in technology into a new venture that protects personal data for both individuals and businesses. He developed and launched SaikouSecurity.com - an advanced encrypted cloud storage system – to give consumers and businesses the assurance of safety without compromising their personal data. In fact, the only information that’s needed to set up an account is an email address. Here, he shares what drove him to turn his passion into a reality and how life is treating him as an entrepreneur in later life.

Having spent a lot of my time travelling around the world as a Solutions Architect at Carnival Group, I wasn’t too interested in spending my leisure time in retirement doing the same thing.

Instead, I had a great passion to actively pursue, and that passion was about protecting people’s personal information.

In the GDPR age, we should feel safe in the knowledge that our rights and identities are protected.

But, sadly there’s a loophole in the system. Having the knowledge, expertise, life skills and contacts to address this issue, I felt a responsibility to do something about it.

I’m clearly not your stereotypical entrepreneur, but I do believe that my decades of experience give me a deeper and broader level of understanding.

As my career developed and technology did too, I began to understand that whilst data could be protected within a building, it’s impossible to know how people will behave around it. It’s not possible to predict human behaviour.

Unfortunately, every piece of data is susceptible to ‘sell, use, abuse or lose’ depending on who gets hold of it and when. There were a couple of real-life experiences that really made this fact hit home for me. The frst was a lady who went through a particularly complicated divorce and was required to take out a restraining order against her husband.

Due to ‘sharing’ of information, her ex-husband was able to access where she was living. The second example is when I’ve been booking holidays and each time, I’ve been asked by the same tour operator several times for my address.

Why? This data is already stored, so they should just be able to pull it up using my postcode. Plus, once I’ve booked my holiday, how can I be sure that someone hasn’t passed information on that I will be away on certain dates and therefore my property will be empty. It’s a worrying notion and not one that’s unique to me, just because I’m in the industry.

Consumers are increasingly aware and alarmed by the threat of cybersecurity. Some of our research showed that 81% of consumers are concerned about the security of their personal data online.

Given the news headlines we’ve seen in the last couple of years, it’s really no surprise. The media has been awash with shocking headlines, many of which mirror my own fears, with travel companies at the centre; Delta Airlines. British Airway and Butlins.

Most recently it was reported that Marriott Hotel Group admitted, at the beginning of December 2018, that 60,000,000 customers’ personal details had been hacked.

I needed to do something about it and it sounded a lot more interesting and challenging than retirement!

So, my three business partners and I set about creating something that would give all those concerned consumers, and businesses alike, the reassurance that their data and photographs can be safely stored without the very current, real risk of having their personal data hacked or stolen. Meaning the ‘ultimate’ or ‘supreme’ in Japanese and Korean, Saikou offers the highest level of security.

We use AES 256 encryption which is the highest level of encryption used by the military, banks and the federal government. All that’s needed by the user is an email address and a password; monthly payment is processed anonymously through one of the world’s most trusted banks.

Our two-factor authentication, which we recommend, only enables the user to log on in to their account if they know their safe password and have their mobile phone at hand.

And, let’s face it, everyone has their mobile phone to hand these days. Given that payment details go through a trusted bank, we never see people’s details.

You cannot use, lose, or abuse anything if you don’t have it in the frst place.

We don’t hold the physical content that users upload either. This is via a third party supplier, meaning there is no trail back to the individual. So, essentially Saikou is about data controlling.

As soon as a company starts sharing data, they become data processors and that’s most defnitely not what we’re about.

The big question on most people’s lips is how are we going to compete with the big players like Dropbox and OneDrive. Well, the simple answer is we’re not.

And we don’t want to. We offer a different product. They cannot copy our model; collectively they have half a billion customers’ data.

Saikou doesn’t hold any data and never will, so for a customer coming on board, it’s not about entering a huge data pool. It’s about starting with a blank canvas and owning that canvas; safe in the knowledge that no-one else can paint on it. It’s about giving people ownership of their property and ultimately, their identity.

So, we’re establishing our marketplace; we’re looking at individuals, small businesses and SMEs with a particular focus on the creative industries. Ownership of