From AI to On-Demand Packaging: Troy Rydman on Security and Sustainability

Packsize CIO & CISO Troy Rydman discusses cybersecurity threats, AI impacts, regulatory compliance, and sustainable packaging technology innovations

Troy Rydman serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Packsize, bringing substantial expertise in information technology and cybersecurity. With a background in finance, Rydman offers valuable perspectives on regulatory compliance, risk management, and emerging technologies.

In this interview, he shares insights on cybersecurity challenges facing businesses in 2025, the impact of AI and cloud computing, and Packsize's contributions to sustainability through innovative packaging solutions.

How are emerging technologies like AI and machine learning shaping cybersecurity strategies in the US?

As with any disruptive technology, AI adds a new level of complexity to how we see and approach risk, creating more unique solutions and challenges for the majority of organizations. AI has allowed cybersecurity teams and solutions to be more flexible and adaptive in the way they approach threat detection, alerting, threat hunting, and risk mitigation using automated approaches and tuning to address challenges that have historically taken a significant amount of time.

However, these technologies also allow threat actors to create customized attack vectors and malware variants faster with enhanced threat detection avoidance techniques. What hasn't changed is that each organization will need to continue to understand its risk profile with the evolution of AI and how that both impacts and can help safeguard their organization.

What are the biggest cybersecurity threats currently facing American businesses in 2025?

I think that there isn't a simple answer to this question, as every nation, state, organization, and individual will have a different risk profile. However, what has always remained consistent is that threat actors have already taken the past of least resistance when attempting to exploit their target. They will continue to exploit any type of disruptive events on a target that could consist of geopolitical events, economic conditions, and general issues with stability.

Each of these types of events and others presents unique opportunities for threat actors to take advantage. An example is a company going through transitions, mergers and acquisitions, or corporate changes that could lead to new potential risks and gaps that allow for potential opportunities for threat actors.

How does the US regulatory environment (e.g., CISA, NIST, SEC guidelines) impact how companies implement cybersecurity protocols?

Depending on the industry and nature of an organization, the impacts of regulatory requirements vary. Coming from a background in finance, regulatory requirements around SOX, GLBA, GDPR, CCPA, and others had a significant impact on how cybersecurity. Typically, within cybersecurity, you look at your threat profile and focus on implementing controls focused on mitigating identified risks.

Regulatory compliance often is black and white and requires the implementation of controls regardless of your threat profile. This can have a positive and sometimes negative impact when having to focus resources on the implementation of controls regardless of the impact.

The most important aspect is ensuring that, regardless of mandates, you are able to demonstrate a proper level of due diligence and ensure that the focus is safeguarding critical organization and customer assets.

What role does cloud computing play in both enabling and complicating cybersecurity efforts?

Cloud computing has allowed organizations to shift a significant amount of the risk to the providers around the shared responsibility model. Organizations adopting native cloud services running serverless architectures are no longer responsible for the physical uptime of the service or maintaining it from a security and availability perspective, allowing for a significant amount of time and resources to be focused on other priorities.

However, what this has also done is put a lot of focus on the level of trust we are placing in these cloud providers in keeping our environments and data safe and shifting risk to more of the supply chain. The risk focus is now focused on our cloud providers and ensuring they are properly securing these environments with the proper level of due diligence.

How can small and mid-sized businesses in the US cost-effectively protect themselves against ransomware and phishing attacks?

Oftentimes, when we see security issues or the failure of security controls, it is because of a failure in controls associated with the basics. The cybersecurity market is inundated with niche solutions that offer various particular protections or insights. For most small to mid-size businesses, the onboarding of these solutions to fill every need is not a sustainable or affordable option.

With keeping with the basics around end-user awareness, creating a culture of security, tracking and maintaining user identities, and ensuring good infrastructure hygiene such as patch management, software updates, and networking controls, a company can find that with a few key solutions, they can properly mitigate their threat landscape without the need for a significant security technology investment. Often, it is the failure of a basic control that leads to a security event.

How do consumer privacy expectations in the US compare to regulations like GDPR in Europe?

The US is behind in adopting something similar to GDPR. We are seeing individual states taking the initiative, such as California, Colorado, Virginia, and others, creating state-led customer privacy laws. These individual laws are often similar to what we are seeing with GDPR around the level of controls as well as potential plenties for failing to comply.

As of now, there is no federal equivalent, and only time will tell if this will continue to be led by the states or the broader government.

How does Packsize's on-demand packaging technology contribute to sustainability and waste reduction in the supply chain?

At Packsize, our On Demand Packaging® solution is revolutionizing supply chain sustainability by eliminating the traditional store-and-retrieve box model. This transformation isn't just about boxes – it's about fundamentally rethinking packaging efficiency across the entire logistics ecosystem.

When you look at the environmental impact, our customers typically see a 40% reduction in box size, which means less material used right from the start. They're also using about 60% less void fill material, which addresses another major source of packaging waste. Overall, we're seeing an average 26% decrease in corrugated material consumption across our client base.

These improvements address multiple sustainability challenges simultaneously. By creating custom-sized boxes on demand, we eliminate excess packaging material, reduce or completely remove the need for void fillers, improve cube utilization in shipping, and significantly decrease the overall carbon footprint of our customers' operations.

What industries benefit the most from Packsize's custom packaging solutions, and how do they integrate with existing logistics operations?

Our custom packaging solutions deliver the greatest value to industries with diverse product dimensions, high shipping volumes, and significant sustainability commitments. Furniture and home goods, automotive parts, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and industrial manufacturing see particularly strong ROI from our technology.

Integration with existing operations is seamless by design. Our systems replace inefficient box inventory systems with on-demand production, which immediately reduces warehouse space needed for packaging storage. We've designed our technology to streamline packing workflows, improving operational efficiency while connecting with existing warehouse management systems. This comprehensive approach supports sustainability initiatives through significant material reduction.

For logistics operations specifically, Packsize technology elevates performance across multiple dimensions. By optimizing package size, we improve transportation efficiency – enabling more products per truck and reducing fuel consumption. This aligns with our commitment to sustainable shipping, reflected in our SmartWay certification partnership with the EPA.

Our technology isn't just an add-on – it transforms packaging from a cost center into a strategic advantage, delivering both operational improvements and environmental benefits throughout the supply chain.