Interview with Wang Dejia, CEO of Tongfu Dun
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Virtual machine protection, multi factor authentication, device fingerprint This is a network security emerging enterprise with many leading technologies. News such as the billion dollar financing and the intellectual property dispute are frequently seen in the media. This is another company with all kinds of rumors.
In this interview, Mr. Wang Dejia, founder, chairman and CEO of Tongfu Dun, was interviewed by safebull. How does the math doctor who returned from the United States view these rumors and introduce his business philosophy and business development strategy?
Dr. Wang Dejia
Curriculum vitae
Wang Dejia, founder, chairman and CEO of Tongfu Dun company, inventor of time code, data analysis expert, senior member of International Computer Society (ACM), expert member of open mobile Internet Committee of Data Center Alliance of Ministry of industry and information technology. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, a master's degree from the Institute of software research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a bachelor's degree in probability and statistics from the University of science and technology of China, as well as more than ten years of experience in the overall design, product development and management of silicon valley software companies (Oracle, Acosta, visa, IBM, etc.), participated in the formulation of a number of industry standards, and has a number of independent intellectual property technology achievements.
1、 Take the lead in introducing device fingerprint technology into China
Safe cow: Why did you go back to China to establish Tongfu when you were doing research and development in Silicon Valley?
Wang Dejia: first, I want to do my own business. Second, I want to contribute my own strength to China's science and technology and social development. At that time, there was a chance that Ali in China wanted to do equipment fingerprint and found me, so he took the project back to China to start his own business.
Are you doing research on device fingerprint in Silicon Valley?
Wang Dega: Yes, and very early. In 2008, thread metrix, a famous foreign anti fraud company, just expanded its business to the United States. At that time, I started to solve the problem of fraud in online game micro transactions in the United States. Traditional payment companies with a few dollars of small transactions are difficult to cover. Fraudsters can become a channel for their money laundering through a large number of transaction frequencies. The technology of device fingerprint is very effective, which solves the problem of using proxy to camouflage IP.
Ali was also studying device fingerprints. He contacted threatmetrix first, but the effect was not so good. The reason is: the situation in China is different from that in foreign countries. For example, there are three major browsers in foreign countries, and there are too many browsers in China. There is a lot of work to be done for various castration and refitting versions, and for the fingerprint of PC devices. In addition, the domestic mobile technology is earlier than that of foreign countries, and the fingerprint of mobile devices is a new thing. Foreign manufacturers have not accumulated in this respect, and the product effect is not good.
In 2011, my research in this field has achieved little, and I have my own independent intellectual property rights. Domestic e-commerce is booming, the integrity environment is not perfect, compared with foreign countries, the demand for anti fraud technology is greater. Just in time with the project of Ali, Tongfu Dun was founded, which is the first time that the fingerprint technology of equipment has officially entered China.
2、 A detour to achieve mobile safety
Safe cow: I first learned that Tong Fu Dun is used for app reinforcement. How did you enter the field of APP reinforcement from device fingerprint?
Wang Dejia: the reinforcement technology is the key to the fingerprint anti-counterfeiting of the equipment. We just open this capability to customers.
We went through some detours. In 2013, I made mobile payment, including time-space code payment, all in one mobile card of Gaojiao District, etc. with app virtual payment card, users achieved a certain scale, but did not make it. The reasons for the failure include the suspension of the two-dimensional code payment in 2014, but the most important thing is the strong promotion of Alipay and WeChat payment. Security professional manufacturers originated from anti fraud technology have no way to compete with internet giants in the field of TOC, although Tong Fu Dun did earlier in technology realization and business model.
Although there is no success in business, there are still gains in product technology. To be a mobile bank, we need to strengthen the app, consider Android and IOS systems, and security is the top priority. The bank's strict requirements forced us to polish our products to be very strong. After this detour, we return to security, focusing on mobile security, account security and business security. At this point, the technical products and development model of the enterprise began to be truly standardized and clear.
3、 Not optimistic about the money burning mode of 1 billion financing plan card
What is the financing situation of Tong Fu Dun?
Wang Dejia: the investors are very optimistic about us. So far, the company has made seven capital increases, all of which are domestic ones. Angel rounds are worth millions of yuan, and subsequent ones are worth tens of millions of yuan. To B is different from to C. to C burns money, but burning money is not suitable for the mode of to B.
Isn't it a detour from 2013 to 14 years? How was the funding problem solved at that time?
Wang Dejia: the detour I said refers to the development direction. Mobile payment is not in the right direction, which gives competitors the opportunity to develop.
In 2014, we went back to the essence of safety and clearly planned the product line, with new financing needs. At that time, the valuation of Tong Fu Dun was US $200 million. In 2014, we almost died. When the financing was not smooth and most difficult, I also mortgaged the house. Here, I especially thank my family for their support. It's very difficult to be a platform company. Tongfu shield is from the "dead heap". After the platform is solid, the number and income of customers rise steadily, and the enterprise development really reaches the stage of broad sky.
How much money have you raised so far?
Wang Dejia: in total, several hundred million yuan has been financed. Detailed data will be disclosed to the public when the company goes public. Pre IPO Financing is in progress.
Safe cow: the financing amount of 1.05 billion yuan spread out before has a great impact, many people are spreading it, and some people in the industry are skeptical.
Wang Dejia: this figure is the total amount of our financing plan. At that time, there were many first-class investment institutions and investors who signed many investment intentions. We are also troubled by the fact that the financing information was publicized in advance, which has brought us some adverse effects. Later, we actively adjusted the pace, and also made a simple clarification on the company's official and micro businesses.
At present, the company's cash flow is very good, the business growth is fast, and it can make blood by itself. The company's equity structure is also very good, the core entrepreneurial team accounts for the vast majority, and the investment institutions are domestic capital. In recent years, I have met a lot of investment institutions and people. Here I would like to emphasize that the choice of investors is very important. Fortunately, we have reliable investors. At present, when pre IPO Financing is in progress, it has clear objectives and strategic position.
4、 Independent development oriented to security cloud and big data platform
Safe cow: what is the next development plan of the enterprise?
Wang Dejia: Tongfu Dun adheres to independent development, takes the striver as the foundation and the customer as the center. Customer growth is too fast, only last month there were 271 effective potential customers coming to us.
Our 2016 slogan is zero, focus and run. Return to zero is a correct mentality, focus is to improve product quality and standardize, and running is to improve operation efficiency.
High quality customers also have high requirements. For example, financial customers are very strict. To meet these needs, we must rely on high-quality talents. In 2017, we proposed the "three 100 person" introduction plan ("100 trainees, 100 professionals, 100 marketing").
Tongfu Dun business locates a professional network security cloud and big data platform to provide SaaS services for security products. The important index of IPO is profit and growth rate. We pay more attention to this aspect of planning.
5、 Virtual machine protection, multi factor authentication and device fingerprint
Safety bull: what are the new breakthroughs in safety technology of Tongfu shield?
Wang Dejia: at present, the best application reinforcement technology of mobile security is VMP invented by Russian hackers, that is, virtual machine protection technology. At present, Tongfu Dun is the only security company in China that really implements virtual machine protection (VMP) for app reinforcement (Android and IOS platforms), achieving zero loss, full compatibility and anti cracking. This technology is very difficult, and our investment is also very large. At present, it is the top protection technology for mobile app security.
The other is multi factor identity authentication technology. We use thousands of factors for deep learning and cross identity authentication, including account, equipment, application, time, space, behavior, relationship, preference, biological characteristics, etc. It is worth mentioning that we combine blockchain technology with security perfectly and apply it to the authentication technology of Tong Fu dun. Because the current blockchain technology is not applicable to the mobile Internet, such as the need to download the entire block and broadcast the whole network, it will consume traffic, power, and computing resources of mobile devices. But the core technology of Tong Fu Dun solves this problem. The R & D personnel use a compression technology to make the communication and calculation amount very small.
We are the first to do device fingerprint technology, and we have our own understanding. The core of equipment fingerprint technology is anti-counterfeiting. The equipment fingerprint technology without reinforcement ability is the emperor's new outfit. The difficulty of device fingerprint technology is cross platform, which needs many years of algorithm accumulation. The future trend of business ecosystem is more and more closed, and the role of cross platform open ID such as device fingerprint will become more and more prominent. The value of equipment fingerprint lies in its application. Tongfu shield equipment portrait technology has been mature and applied to risk control and customer acquisition. I think device fingerprint will be the financial technology with the most technical threshold after artificial intelligence and blockchain. Device fingerprint technology is so important, I always have an idea to organize a competition of device fingerprint technology in the industry.
In the sixth year of entrepreneurship, Tongfu Dun's core competitiveness is a continuous iterative technology upgrading, and its many years of data and data processing experience, combined with the industry accumulation of core executives, constitute a very difficult competition barrier to surpass.
6、 To be a blue chip in network security
Security bull: can you talk about the future development direction of Tong Fu Dun in combination with China's network security market?
Wang Dejia: the network security capacity of a country is directly proportional to its market size. China's cybersecurity market still lags far behind that of the United States, which needs many excellent talents to promote. The traditional security "box" era has passed, and the future security is highly cloud, mobile and intelligent, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for security enterprises. Mobile security, account security and business security, these three areas are good development direction and key links, complement each other, can produce great value, is a cause beneficial to the country and the people. Tong Fu Dun has a long-term plan in these new areas. Our vision is to be a long-term and stable development of network security "blue chip".
Wang Xiao Rui
The author of financial and it articles, the translator of the famous social engineering work "the art of deception", the long-time writer of financial circle magazine, and the editor in chief of China computer security net and Guangguang net.