By Allan Maurer
ARLINGTON, VA—What makes Cyveillance different from other Internet security companies is simple: it proactively seeks out and identifies threats so that its business partners can eliminate them before they strike. “That’s what differentiates us,” says Todd Bransford, VP of marketing.
Cyveillance is one of 40 of the Southeast’s most innovative companies presenting at the Second Annual Southeast Venture Conference at Tysons Corner, VA, next week (Feb. 27-28; see: www.seventure.org for more information). Cyveillance CEO Panos Anastassiadis, who is also on the boards of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, TEDCO, and ADF Solutions will speak. He has more than 25 years of experience with technology companies.
You may have heard of Cyveillance through its reports on phishing, identity theft and malware threats and other security risks, which it releases periodically. The most recent noted that the number of phishing targets leapt upward 100 percent in 2007. (Phishing refers to attempts by cyber crooks to tempt people into revealing private information and passwords via emails spoofing actual institutional messages from banks, Paypal, eBay and other sites.)
Cyveillance, founded in 1997 has raised about $60 million in venture backing from Lazard Technology Partners, New Enterprise Associates, ABS Capital, and Blackrock. It is not current seeking addition capital, says Bransford.
He says the key differentiator between Cyveillance and a number of other security companies which appear to do similar things, is that it sends out Web crawlers “to act as eyes and ears for our clients.” The crawlers seek out spam and the sites it goes to, malware, phishing attacks and other threats. “We provide a comprehensive sweep of the Internet including the back alleys and channels where a lot of illicit activity occurs,” says Bransford.
But more than that, the company can also monitor net “chatter” for indications of product fraud, information leaks, or potential terrorist attacks. “We offer about nine different solutions, all based on this intelligence led platform of monitoring what’s happening on the Internet,” Bransford explains.
“We don’t operate within a firewall or harden a company’s firewall. We’re out there looking for threats proactively. Not many people are trying to do that, and the ones that do focus on a few specific business issues.”
Bransford says the need for that sort of monitoring has increased. “There is no more perimeter of the Enterprise,” he says. “People work remotely and connect to the net from lots of locations. Business communications flow back and forth online as well. Simply hardening the wall around the Enterprise, while still important, won’t protect you from people putting up a spoof Web site or selling counterfeit products (particularly of importance to drug makers).
“A lot of issues cannot be protected by an approach that starts at the firewall and looks inward,” Bransford says.
The 100-employee company is hiring, looking for a couple of engineers and analysts.
It has four patents and several hundred customers under active contracts. It says half of the Fortune 50 and three quarters of the Fortune 500 in the financial services, pharmaceutical, energy and technology industries turn to Cyveillance for cyber intelligence.
Cyveillance also provides real time data feeds to other solution providers.
Bransford says that while some people get a thrill from responding to phishing email by filling in curses or silly answers, it’s a mistake to do so. “While you’re writing in Donald Duck or “I’m not fooled,” the phishing site is probably dropping malware on your PC,” he says.
Cyveillance works with the FBI and acts as a resource for them during some of their prosecutions of Internet bad guys, Bransford notes.
The whole problem of Internet security is dramatized by the fact that while Internet commerce is only 25 percent or less of the Gross National Product, more than half of complaints about fraud originate from the Net, Bransford says.
“Cyveillance is trying to play a large role in addressing these things and making the Internet a better place.”
The company’s Web site includes free demos and a resource center with white papers and reports on current Internet threats.
On the Web: www.cyveillance.com
© 2008, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.
