By: Elena Mart

The impact is clear: countless businesses across the United States have experienced cyberattacks, with smaller companies particularly vulnerable to these incidents. It’s the kind of reality that keeps Dante Jackson up at night, not because it’s frightening—though it certainly is—but because he knows it doesn’t have to be this way.

“These guys do not care about the size,” Jackson says about cybercriminals, his voice carrying the weight of someone who’s seen too many small businesses fall victim to digital attacks. “They are there for the money.”

As the founder and CEO of Serket-Tech Security, Jackson is working to change the narrative around cybersecurity—one that has long been dominated by the “Big Four” consulting firms and their one-size-fits-all solutions. His mission? To make enterprise-grade cyber protection accessible to businesses of all sizes, particularly those traditionally priced out of proper security measures.

It’s a mission born from experience. Before launching Serket-Tech, Jackson served in various leadership roles at Truist, a prominent U.S. bank, where he helped build out their Data Protection space, Insider Threat Program, and Cyber Operational Resilience program. During this time, he noticed a troubling pattern in the industry.

“At the enterprise level, large consulting firms were charging exorbitant prices and offering ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions, even for companies within the same industry,” Jackson explains. This approach left smaller businesses vulnerable, forced to choose between inadequate protection and unaffordable services.

The real-world consequences of this gap in protection can be devastating. Jackson shares a story about a trucking company that lost substantial amounts of money every day for seven days following a ransomware attack. “They had trucks out all over the country carrying cargo expected to be delivered to customers,” he explains. “Those customers don’t care about what’s going on in your world. They want their goods.” The ripple effects extended far beyond the immediate financial loss, affecting the company’s reputation and client relationships.

However, Jackson’s approach to democratizing cybersecurity goes beyond just making services more affordable. He’s reimagining how security solutions are delivered. Rather than pushing standardized packages, Serket-Tech creates customized solutions based on each client’s specific needs and vulnerabilities.

This customization starts with what Jackson calls “thinking like a bad guy.” His team monitors hacker forums and studies emerging threats, staying ahead of the curves that could blindside their clients. This approach recently paid off when Jackson spoke with a CEO working on a billion-dollar construction project in Atlanta.

“He didn’t think they needed anything cybersecurity-related,” Jackson recalls. “Then I asked him about their blueprints—the power lines, the city plumbing underneath where they’re digging. That’s valuable information to a nation-state government.” The conversation changed immediately.

Yet perhaps what truly sets Jackson apart is his commitment to building the future of cybersecurity alongside protecting the present. Through partnerships with Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Clayton State University, and several HBCUs in Atlanta, Serket-Tech offers opportunities for rising juniors and seniors to work alongside senior engineers on real-world projects. Jackson’s dedication to expanding access extends beyond traditional academic pathways—his partnership with Women In Technology’s Single Mothers Program reflects his belief that talent can come from anywhere. By providing hands-on training and mentorship opportunities to single mothers entering the tech workforce, he’s helping to diversify the cybersecurity talent pipeline while creating economic opportunities for families.

“They can see what they like,” Jackson explains, addressing a common challenge for aspiring cybersecurity professionals who often don’t know which specialization to pursue. “Maybe ransomware is really awesome, or maybe encryption isn’t what they thought it would be. They get that real-world experience while they’re still in school.”

This dual mission—protecting businesses while nurturing the next generation of cyber defenders—reflects Jackson’s broader vision for the industry. In a field dominated by giant firms and standardized solutions, he’s proving that effective cybersecurity can be both accessible and personalized.

“I don’t have the collateral that a PwC, an EY, or one of the big four companies has,” Jackson admits. “I don’t have that collateral built where I can fail on a project, and it won’t really matter because the brand name is there. We’re building a brand here.”

That brand is built on a simple but powerful premise: in today’s digital world, every business, regardless of size, deserves access to quality cybersecurity protection. This mission is becoming increasingly crucial as cyber threats evolve and multiply.

As Jackson puts it, using his favorite analogy: “What you don’t want to be is the house made of straw. You want to be the house made of brick so that when a bad actor comes, he doesn’t see you as a target—he moves on to the next target.”

Through Serket-Tech, Jackson is helping businesses of all sizes build those brick houses, one customized solution at a time. In doing so, he’s not just protecting individual companies—he’s reshaping how the industry approaches cybersecurity, making it more accessible, more effective, and more focused on each client’s unique needs.

In a world where cyber threats are increasingly democratized, perhaps it’s time our cyber defenses were too.

Published by: Josh Tatunay