Faces of Optery is a series highlighting the people behind Optery’s mission to help individuals, families, and businesses take back control over exposed personal data.
Turning Personal Experience Into Proactive Security: Meet Optery’s CISO and VP of IT & Security
In this story, CISO and VP of IT & Security Karthik Ramesh shares how his own experience with data breaches and attempted identity fraud drew him to Optery, why the company’s existing security culture stood out when he joined, and how “trust, but verify” guides his work. He also discusses life outside work, from home renovation projects and running a home lab to building an overlanding vehicle and taking cross-country road trips.
Protecting the Company That Helps People Regain Control
As Optery’s CISO and VP of IT & Security, Karthik leads the company’s security function and works across application and product security, cloud infrastructure, compliance, internal audits, governance, policy development, and incident response. Because his role spans both technical and governance responsibilities, his focus can change considerably from one day to the next.
Karthik joined Optery in January 2026 after 16 years in corporate IT and security roles. He wanted to do work that produced a tangible result and gave him a meaningful answer to a question he regularly asks himself: Did I accomplish something worthwhile today?
Optery’s mission was also personal to him. After his information was exposed through data breaches, someone used his identity to begin opening a financial account in his name. The attempt passed through the first stages of the institution’s automated checks before being stopped. Because the account was never fully opened, however, Karthik was given little information about what had happened.
“Having been on the receiving end of it, I know what that feeling of powerlessness is like,” Karthik said.
When he learned that Optery was hiring, he immediately saw an opportunity to help address the same problem that had affected him personally.
“Optery gives people that path back,” Karthik said. “It arms the average person with the ability to actually do something about it, not just accept it as the cost of being online.”
Security Was Already Baked In
Karthik joined Optery during an intensive period of audit preparation and had to move quickly from the beginning. As the company’s first dedicated security leader, he expected that establishing the function might require overcoming technical debt, addressing overlooked risks, and persuading others to make security a priority.
Instead, he found that much of the groundwork had already been laid.
“Policies, infrastructure decisions, the overall culture around doing things right, it was already there,” Karthik said. “Security wasn’t an afterthought bolted on later. It was already baked into how things worked.”
That foundation allowed him to concentrate on strengthening and advancing Optery’s security program instead of spending his early months trying to change the company’s culture.
Karthik believes security teams are most effective when employees see them as partners rather than obstacles.
“I’m not a gatekeeper,” he said. “I’m here to help us all be secure.”
At Optery, he found that people across the company already understood that principle and recognized the responsibility that comes with handling personal information.
“I’ve never had an interaction here that made me question whether someone truly values security,” he said.
Trust, but Verify
People often assume that cybersecurity work primarily consists of responding to incidents. While incident response is an important part of Karthik’s role, much of his work happens before an incident ever occurs.
Security also requires building controls, policies, and processes, then validating that they work as intended. A control can be enabled without necessarily being effective.
Karthik’s guiding professional principle is simple: “Trust, but verify.”
“It’s not about assuming bad intent,” he said. “In security, a control or evidence you haven’t validated is just a claim.”
Whether that claim comes from a vendor, a system, another person, or even himself, Karthik wants to see demonstrable proof. That instinct can sometimes appear skeptical, but it is an essential part of protecting an organization and identifying gaps before an attacker does.
Keep Control of What Matters
Karthik’s privacy and security advice begins with maintaining control over the data that matters most to you.
Cloud services are convenient, but accidental sharing settings can expose files more broadly than intended. Depending entirely on a single service can also leave important files outside your direct control.
“If you truly value it, keep a copy,” Karthik said. “Your data isn’t truly yours if you don’t control where it lives.”
For anything he would be devastated to lose, Karthik follows the 3-2-1 backup approach: keep three copies of the data, store them on two different types of media, and maintain one copy off-site.
High Voltage, Home Labs, and the Open Road
Karthik’s interest in building and repairing things began long before his career in cybersecurity. Growing up, he learned to handle electrical wiring and plumbing projects around the house. He later earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering, focusing on electrical-grid planning and high-voltage systems.
That background has made him willing to take on ambitious projects at home. His current renovations include a bathroom that has been stripped all the way down to the concrete. He is also converting an older vehicle into an overlander capable of traveling completely off the grid.
Karthik runs a home lab as well, with his own media and photo servers. The setup allows him to store his personal collection of movies and television shows and stream them from anywhere. That same do-it-yourself streak carries over to software: he follows, reviews, and contributes to open-source projects.
When he wants to unwind, he can usually be found in the garage working on a project with music playing in the background. His musical tastes range from soft instrumentals to heavy metal, but Linkin Park’s earlier albums remain a constant favorite. He’s just as likely to be found rewatching Godzilla (the 1998 version, unapologetically), rereading Pride and Prejudice, or revisiting Sherlock Holmes.
Karthik also loves road trips. He has repeatedly traveled across the United States in both east-west and north-south directions, including drives from California to New York and Minnesota to Texas. Having grown up near the coast, he makes a point of reaching a beach at least once a year.
His taste in pizza is equally distinctive: jalapeños and pineapple are his preferred toppings.
“I know a lot of people hate me for it, but that’s fine,” he said. “I like it.”
Whether he is validating a security control, renovating a room, building an off-grid vehicle, or maintaining his home lab, Karthik brings the same instinct to the task: understand how the system works, test assumptions, and make sure the result can be trusted.