Rockville, MD – Zuly Gonzalez and Beau Adkins are well aware that anywhere from 75% to 80% of malicious cyber attacks come from within an organization, not from an external source. In fact, it was their job to identify and neutralize threats like those during their collective time spent working in the digital trenches of the National Security Agency. And it’s that experience that inspired them to move their skills into the commercial sector to help businesses in Maryland and across the nation.

“We kind of melded both [Beau’s] offensive mindset of hacking and attacking and my mindset of defending … we basically thought about what would it take to really stop Beau from getting into a computer,” Gonzalez told The Baltimore Sun.

And Light Point Security was born. Like Gonzalez and Adkins, other cyber security professionals — especially those who are working or who have worked for the government — are seizing the valuable opportunity to offer up their skills or even start their own cyber security businesses in a state in such close quarters with the capitol.

In addition to the NSA, Maryland houses the military’s U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade and National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Rockville.

Maryland is home to some of the best cyber security experts in the world, but entrepreneurship doesn’t always come easy.

Ken McCreedy, director of cyber security and aerospace at the Maryland Department of Commerce, explained that it’s difficult to come by a startup that isn’t run by an individual with experience from Fort Meade. But not every cyber security professional knows how to run a business. However, McCreedy said that for those individuals who have a penchant for running a business, “they find this a fertile area to grow their company.”

In fact, more cyber security professionals are opting for office spaces in Maryland and Virginia over the D.C. area. The organizations in Maryland, including the NSA and Lockheed Martin’s NexGen Cyber and Innovation Center, offer exactly the kind of experienced professionals that the majority of cyber security companies need.

“The cool part about what we do is that we get to help these entrepreneurs that are starting these companies to create a sense of community for their employees and culture,” said Jonathan Hall, senior associate at CBRE.