Two siblings with backgrounds in national security established Virtru based on the realization that private enterprises have similar requirements as government entities.

John Ackerly was engaged in drafting federal privacy regulations at the National Economic Council, a White House advisory body, when the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon occurred on September 11, 2001.
“I witnessed firsthand the consequences of failing to connect crucial information,” recalls Ackerly, co-founder of Virtru, an encrypted email and secure file-sharing firm”. Simultaneously, the privacy safeguards for citizens’ data that he and his associates intended to advocate for through legislation were disregarded with the enactment of the Patriot Act.

A few years later, John’s brother Will assumed the role of a cloud-security architect at the National Security Agency, devising strategies to safeguard classified data.
Through their governmental roles, the Ackerlys became concerned about the two conflicting issues: the necessity to transmit data securely and the imperative to give private individuals control over the collection and dissemination of their information. Will believed that both challenges could be addressed by implementing encryption and access controls directly to the data, rather than relying on the security of platforms like servers or email systems.

Will enlisted the help of NSA colleagues to devise an open standard for data management known as the Trusted Data Format, which was initially released in 2009. In 2012, Will departed from the NSA to launch Virtru with John, after recognizing the private sector’s demand for a solution enabling businesses to securely share and track sensitive information ranging from emails to medical records.

Presently, Virtru serves a million active users across 7,000 clients encompassing regional banks, small healthcare practices, and burgeoning e-commerce firms. Their solutions seamlessly integrate into existing email, file-storage, and client-management systems from major tech companies. Businesses can utilize Virtru’s offerings to prevent information from being forwarded or printed, while also facilitating easier data tracking and management, paving the way for potential AI applications.

Jill Emerson, IT systems administrator for Team Rehabilitation Physical Therapy, describes the Virtru team as “exceptional in every aspect”. She commends Virtru for their responsiveness to feedback and ease of collaboration as her Michigan-based chain of physical therapy clinics adopts Virtru across Zendesk and Google services.

“If you possess sensitive content that requires secure sharing, particularly if it is subject to regulations, and you desire control over it,” says Ackerly, “we are the ultimate solution for that.”