Preventative Measures and Resilience

EG: What are some of the measures companies can take to be more resilient to cyberattacks in 2025 and beyond?

SO: In general, and this is particularly true for electronic trading – you always have to be one

step ahead, a bit faster or quicker- and generally better than the other. And while regulations like DORA (digital operational resiliency act) are now being enforced in financial institutions and my customers have to adopt and adhere to this, it can only help individuals to be better prepared and perhaps mitigate the damage resulting from a cyberattack. It cannot ultimately prevent them, but can reduce the likelihood and chances that they occur.
 

However, one has to think further and look at potential cyberthreats today. For example, with

quantum computing being on the horizon and the first quantum (consumer) machines in the pipeline already, one has to anticipate what will happen when access encryption (eg. logins/passwords) or files encrypted with AES-256 or RSA-4096 for instance, can be hacked in a matter of seconds.

There are examples, where organisations are buying large sets of encrypted data records today (eg. personal medical records), knowing that they will be able to make use of them in a few years’ time with quantum technology. So it is better to be prepared for the future and encrypt with post-quantum cryptography now.

EG: Being an award-winning entrepreneur, what would you say are the most commonly identifiable traits in fintech businesses that succeed, and why? 
 

SO: In December 2024, I had the honour to receive the prestigious Fortuna award as the “Entrepreneur of the year for Automotives sector, Germany” (https://forttuna.co/business-leaders-edition/). Two years before this, we received recognition for outstanding support and service engagements from the HIPE Award. (https://hipeaward.com/). First, we listen to our customers- to what they have in mind, what their future requirements might be and which concerns and challenges they may have. (An old Chinese saying goes: ‘you have two ears but only one mouth, hence you should listen twice as much as you talk’). And then we can respond to their feedback and input, whatever it might be. Unlike large organisations with a lot of people, hierarchies and bureaucracy, we can act and react far more quickly

to their needs and market trends, and so on.

Whereas these large organisations can be compared to a big container ship, and it takes them a lot of time to change course, we are a nimble speedboat and can adapt to changing market needs and customer requirements much faster.

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EG: Confinity Solutions also has use cases for urban mobility. How is Confinity Low Latency Messaging (CLLM) enabling clients to navigate a safer, smarter and better-connected future?
 

SO: Initially our messaging solution named CLLM was developed for the financial services industry, predominantly for use by stock exchanges, and it has been used in this industry for more than a decade now. However, I’m certain there are other industries with similar use cases (requiring ‘one-to-many communication’ in a highly reliable manner). The automotive industry has been one of these instances.
 

Take for example the autonomous driving of vehicles. Until today, the approach has been to install cameras in the car, which all try to ‘mimic’ the human eye by reading traffic signals, or other traffic IoT components. Here our CLLM solution can revolutionise the way the Inter-Car and Car-to-Traffic-IoT communication works today. Think of a traffic signal sending out a digital message via CLLM, informing the cars in front of it: ‘I’m red for 15 seconds, I’m red for 14 seconds, I’m red for 13

seconds….’ And the other vehicles would reliably acknowledge receipt of this information back to

the sender, such as with a traffic signal.
 

Similarly, a vehicle which has to brake behind a hill or corner (and is invisible to other vehicles

approaching from behind), could send our digital information that the car is ‘currently braking, or has come to a full stop’. Neither camera, nor human eye may catch a glimpse of the braking lights around the corner early enough. In instances such as these, our CLLM solution could significantly contribute to safety in urban mobility.

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EG: You also have a Masters Degree in Computer Science. What are some of the ways in which your rigorous academic training helped prepare you to emerge as a successful fintech leader at the forefront of the industry today? 
 

SO:  When I started my studies in Computer Science in 1981 it was a very new subject altogether. A

lot of students thought this was all only about programming and writing software code, but it was

very different from this. Yes, I learned programming languages like Cobol, Fortran, C and Assembler, but most importantly gained analytical skills such as how to approach problem solving methodologies and with this, accumulating expertise in finding ways to create solutions to complex problems. Electronic trading is at the forefront of leading edge technology and my customers are demanding better solutions every time.

The ‘race to zero’ latency in electronic trading is still on. And remember, if I’m able to carve out a few nanoseconds here or there, I will hit the stock exchange’s matching engine first and get the trade. The winner takes it all!   EG