Influential Woman · Security Tech

Rashmi Agrawal

CTO and Co-founder, CipherSonic Labs Inc.

Cambridge, MA

2Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's in Engineering (Computer Engineering) Degree Master's in Engineering (Computer Engineering) Degree PhD in Engineering (Computer Engineering) Member Women in Cybersecurity

Her Story

About Rashmi

I have been in my field for about 20 years, with experience at Intel, Intel Labs, Xilinx (which is AMD now), and Analog Devices. My career path throughout has been more on the hardware design front, where I've been designing hardware accelerators for various crypto and security products. My research path, on the other hand, has been more on the crypto algorithms and post-quantum crypto, so all the latest and greatest in crypto and data security and privacy. Both put together gave me a perfect starting point to put together a data security and privacy solution for the LLMs, or Gen AI, as we like to call it these days. It was a perfect amalgamation of skills and technology and everything put together, which hit the storm at the perfect time. As CTO and co-founder of Ciphersonic Labs, I drive the technological effort for the company, including research, product development, and figuring out what should be the next path for the company in terms of technology. I'm one of the very few in the field of hardware acceleration and crypto, specifically looking at fully homomorphic encryption technology, and I'm quite proud of that achievement.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Rashmi

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I kind of feel that this field could be very lonely for females, but there's nothing to be worried about. It's like, just do your best, and then the opportunities are unlimited. Given we are female, we have to prove ourselves lots more than what males would have to prove for the same role. So that becomes quite challenging sometimes. But don't let that hold you back.

02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

I value relationships over anything else. So, relationships over money or over work. I think I kind of build strong relationships along the way, and those are long-lasting. They're not short-term. I value that a lot, fostering those relationships.

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