Venture capitalists have become vastly interested in security-related startups that offer a range of services, from computer security, forensics and e-discovery to Web sites that offer more privacy than larger social network sites. Online identity security is a hot commodity, and the following 25 startups offer revolutionary techniques to protect and secure both individual identities and personal or business data.
Computer Security Ventures
Aprigo NINJA is an SaaS solution that provides a unified data dashboard for all unstructured data both on-premise and “in the cloud.” Aprigo prides itself on data breach prevention, the ability to pass compliance audits and to benchmark data. EnterpriseStorageForum.com’s Drew Robb named Aprigo a Top 10 Data Storage Startup for 2010.
Avansic: Started in 2004, this company has become one of the country’s leading digital forensics firms. They service the legal and business communities through electronic evidence discovery, data preservation, expert witness testimony and litigation support while upholding the highest standards of conduct.
Bridgeway Software, the leading provider of Legal Enterprise Management solutions, implements systems in the areas of electronic discovery, matter and case management, electronic invoicing, cost management, corporate governance, contract management, litigation risk assessment and entity management.
Digital Assembly introduced SmartCarving™ and SmartFiltering™ technologies to help forensic investigators recover and analyze photo evidence quickly and easily. The company released its latest version of Adroit Photo Forensics on May 5, 2010. The company’s customers include the FBI, intelligence communities, forensic investigators and leading law firms.
Innotas is a leading provider of on-demand IT governance, an easy-to-use, rapid-to-deploy, and cost-effective way to manage resources and budgets across an IT department’s entire inventory of projects, portfolios, applications, assets, and service requests. Their services span a wide range of industries.
Pixel Forensics provides products and services to locate, analyze, and search all forms of multimedia such as video, images, and audio. The team collectively brings more than 75 years of software development and support experience ranging from applied research and prototyping to commercial software product development.
Redseal Systems, Inc. develops security risk management (SRM) software that provides solutions for a range of issues faced by information technology organizations, such as firewall-router audit, network audit, PCI requirement-1 assessment, vulnerability management, and risk assessment.
Skybox Security provides security risk and compliance management software such as the Firewall Compliance Auditor that collects information from multiple firewalls and analyzes configuration, optimizes rules set while automating the change assurance process and generates on-demand compliance and audit reports.
Solera Networks, Inc. delivers network appliance products and monitoring services and provides packet capture, record, and stream-to-storage devices and software, which is capable of capturing, streaming-to-storage, and archiving traffic on any network. With its Virtual Appliance, the company makes deep packet capture and analysis for deep forensic analysis.
TRUSTe helps thousands of businesses promote online safety and trust, and guides consumers to sites that protect their online privacy, such as Yahoo, Facebook, MSN, eBay, AOL, Disney, New York Times, Comcast and Apple. Read the privacy policy of any Web site you visit. If you see a TRUSTe privacy seal on that policy, you “can be confident that Web site protects your online privacy and security.”
UBIC is the first and only e-discovery and computer forensic services company in Japan. It has incorporated over seven years of experience as the premier provider of Asian e-discovery and computer forensic services. In 2007, UBIC North America, Inc., a wholly owned US subsidiary was established to provide trans-pacific support to U.S. clients.
Xatrix Security offers online and computer security related news, featuring the latest advisories, vulnerabilities and security software via a large searchable database of Microsoft, Linux and Unix advisories. Their Virus Central offers antivirus solutions and software with the latest news on virus threats.
YGN Elite Hacker Group is an international security team organized in Yangon, Myanmar. Established in 2007, this group is dedicated to provide security services at reasonable fees for SMEs. They guarantee to reduce risks and flaws up to 90 percent, with the remaining 10 percent depending upon security management and maintenance.
ZOOM Technologies was the first company to set up an IPsec VPN in India, the first to set up a Linux based WAN (the largest network in India), the first to set up a 24 X 7 antivirus and malware support center in India and more.
Internet Privacy Ventures
Abine, Inc., the online privacy company, provides Internet privacy solutions for consumers that allow regular people to regain control over their personal information online. One of the company’s first offerings is the Abine Privacy Suite software, a browser add-on that flushes intrusive cookies, shields contact information and separates online identities.
Better Advertising Project is a new type of company that brings transparency to online advertising. Formed last summer by former About.com CEO Scott Meyer, Better Advertising Project was tapped to monitor advertisers that use social media sites to collect information about consumers. The company has mapped more than five million domains and identified more than 250 companies involved in collecting or using consumer data.
Dasient is the first to develop a complete Web Anti-Malware service that can assess, detect and contain malware on websites to help businesses assure customer confidence and avoid losses of traffic, reputation, and revenue. Dasient was founded by former Google engineers Neil Daswani and Shariq Rizvi and former McKinsey strategy consultant Ameet Ranadive.
Diaspora: Four students from NYU’s Courant Institute are almost ready to take on social networking behemoth Facebook with Disapora, a distributed, open source social network. To cut out the middleman, Diaspora will be a distributed network where separate computers connect to each other directly, instead of relying on a central hub to relay information.
Evizone can be used to secure communications between not only individuals, but workgroups as well, solely on dedicated Evizone servers versus being spread across various computers and backup systems without the user’s knowledge or control. Once the retention period of an Evizone message or document expires, it is permanently deleted and no longer exists anywhere.
Reputation Defender offers services to monitor and control your Internet presence. They range from a customized search to remove personal information from databases to managing what search engines reveal about you. Businesses can take it a step further and sign up for services that will promote their brand, reduce the impact of negative publicity, and manage their presence on the Web.
SafetyWeb is a groundbreaking new service designed to help parents keep their children safe online. SafetyWeb scans the web for public info about the consumer’s child. They keep parents informed on the security and privacy of that child, instantly alerting parents to changes or dangers. SafetyWeb counts amongst its founders an Ivy League graduate who conducts admission interviews for his alma mater.
SocialShield patent-pending Safety Engines™ gives parents insight into what their kids are doing online. As a group, they provide a 360-degree view of what kids are saying and doing, as well as seeing who their friends are on the main social networks. More importantly, they call out any inappropriate, dangerous or suspicious behaviors or people in an easy-to-use format.
TLO is dedicated to creating technologies, systems, and tools that protect users from risk, fraud, and theft. This company recently detected 800 computers in Ireland that are downloading or trading child pornography images each month. According to ENN, a detective from the Garda Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit has attended a TLO seminar in Denmark on how to use its technology.
Togetherville: This is a new social site for kids aged 6-10 and their parents. Designed as an online neighborhood, this site also contains activities within a safe online environment with privacy controls. The site is recommended by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. According to Jimmy Fallon, television comedian, they called this site Togetherville, “because To-Catch-a-Predatorville was too long.”
Yoggie Security Systems‘ range of USB key-sized and ExpressCard-sized security mini-computers connects to any PC or laptop at home, in the office and on the road, blocking Internet threats outside the host computer and boosting computer performance by off-loading installed security software.
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