GRIDtoday Logo Hewlett-Packard

DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /

   ( Table of Contents )   

Breaking News - Security:

Reconnex Combats Internal Enterprise Security Threats

Reconnex, a newly launched enterprise security company pioneering the development of high performance security appliances designed to prevent disclosures of confidential information, made its first public appearance at the RSA Security Conference. The Silicon Valley company, funded by Norwest Venture Partners and Outlook Ventures, unveiled a high-performance security solution designed with the speed, accuracy and scalability required to prevent accidental, as well as intentional disclosures of confidential information that occur over corporate networks to ensure that these types of network communications are no longer a threat to Fortune 500 companies.

"The need to protect the flow of confidential information over the corporate network is well known, but the technology available to date has been extremely limited. Our goal is to deliver a security product that will solve the business problems that keep CEOs up at night," said Donald Massaro, Reconnex's president and CEO, and proven entrepreneur with a successful start-up company track record in the Valley. "Just this month, portions of Microsoft's source code were leaked putting them in an incredibly vulnerable position. While access to this source code is a threat, Microsoft is now investigating to find out how much of the code had been leaked, when the leak occurred and how many people might have gained access to it. The solutions we're offering help combat such internal threats that cost businesses billions of dollars each year. Companies now have the ability to see the confidential information their employees are viewing, creating and sending outside the corporate network, so they can stop disclosures before it's too late; and have the legally binding evidence to prosecute if necessary. CSOs are more effective, and confidential information and businesses are more protected."

Reconnex gives businesses the ability to see all information traveling over the network and can detect and provide alerts -- in real-time -- when confidential and classified information is communicated in violation of a company policy. Reconnex identifies with accuracy when security disclosures have occurred, what information has left the corporate network, where the violation originated and which parties outside the network received the information in question. For criminal violations, such as acts of cyber terrorism and industrial espionage -- like source code leaks. Reconnex ultimately delivers legally binding evidence that tells companies the "who, what, when and where" and can be used in a court of law.


Web services, utility computing, .NET, CPU harvesting and distributed computing are just a few of the technologies that fall under the Grid computing umbrella. Gt04 -- a premiere enterprise Grid computing conference targeting industrial and commercial users -- will gather experts, and outline strategies and road maps for Grid deployment. For more information, visit www.gt04.com.

Grid computing is here!


"There are a number of factors we look for when choosing a company to fund and Reconnex truly fit the bill by understanding the new era of security concerns facing Fortune 500 companies and our nation," said Mathew D. Howard, principal of Norwest Venture Partners. "Not only did the founders show passion, vision and experience in enterprise security, but we saw a management team capable of executing in a marketplace with tremendous opportunity and a technology capable of making an incredible impact. Solutions focusing on internal security breaches have thus far been limited in their functionality, usability and visibility into the network. Reconnex is well positioned to save corporations and our national economy from the devastating consequences of industrial espionage and cyber terrorism."

Today, no solution exists which can be deployed throughout an enterprise with the scalability, speed and accuracy necessary to see and prevent confidential company information leaking from inside the network out. While most solutions focus on the external threats to the corporate network, few solutions are sophisticated enough to be deployed inside the network and focus on all dimensions of the internal threat by distinguishing between good employees who make honest mistakes, and those set on personal gain at the expense of the company or worse -- using a corporate network in the interest of sabotaging national security.

For example, the sophisticated nature of their flagship product, the Reconnex G2 Content Analyzer, allows it to detect steganography -- the practice of embedding secret messages inside any digital media, such as digital photos or audio files. Digital media files with hidden secret messages using steganography appear normal to the common observer and it is nearly impossible to suspect that anything unusual is taking place. By providing the first hardware-based product with enough processing capability to detect steganographic messages sent over high-speed networks, enterprises have the ability to stop the most insidious form of industrial espionage and government agencies have a commercial product capable of uncovering secret methods of communications used by terrorist organizations.

"Government agencies and vertical industries like financial services, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals are not only heavily regulated but they have a business need to protect sensitive and confidential information such as patient and credit card information," said Phebe Waterfield, analyst of Security Services & Solutions Group at the Yankee Group. "Technologies like Reconnex reduce business risks. The industry needs a solution that can be realistically deployed, easy to use and reliable in protecting confidential company information. Reconnex's solution looks promising and makes it a company to watch in 2004."

( Top of Page )

   ( Table of Contents )