Validian Seeks To Secure Ballooning Cyberspace Act

Validian Seeks To Secure Ballooning Cyberspace Activity
May 20, 2014 By: Nicholas Kitonyi, Benzinga Staff Writer
http://www.benzinga.com/14/05/4571308/validia...eactivity#
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Tickers: CSCO, FEYE, INTC, PANW

The internet has been around for several decades. However, over the last two decades, we have
witnessed some of the largest developments in the cyberspace thanks to rapid technological
advances. While most of these developments have been positive, there have been some negatives
too. The biggest quandary associated with the internet and cyberspace is security.
Cyber security has become one of the most critical topics in the cyber world as career hackers
continue to terrorize individuals, corporations and governments, among others. The threats posed
by such malicious parties have been the driving force behind the birth of a new market, cyber
security. Right now, there are several companies with businesses targeted at curbing cyber crime,
or better still, preventing it altogether.
Companies like Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO),
FireEye (NASDAQ: FEYE) and Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) are some of the leading
providers of cyber security systems. These four along with Trend Micro (OTCMKTS: TMICF)
are particularly popular in the provision of Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS). According to a
market research firm IDC, the IPS market totaled nearly $1.9 billion in 2012.
Now, while the current market players in the industry boast massive reputation in their own
respect, this does not rule out an opportunity for new players. Intel, for instance, is one of the
biggest companies in the technology sector, and perhaps some customers might be inclined to
buy products from players with exemplary popularity in the technology sector.
However, when another player comes in with a disruptive product that threatens to push other
players out of business, then every potential customer would be inching to know what makes the
product so different from the rest.
Validian Corporation (OTCMKTS: VLDI) appears to have found the key to sending hackers
packing, and this time it could be for good, unless they find an unlikely loophole back in
business.
Validian Corporation’s Disruptive Top-Down Next Generation Cyber Security Technology
March 13, 2014, Validian Corporation announced via press release, the launching of its next
generation intrusion prevention. The company launched first-to-market, next generation-cyber
security technology that provides secure access across various applications, interfaces and
databases.
From the point of sale interfaces to various social platforms and applications, as well as access to
and from digital storage systems, the company revealed that its disruptive intrusion prevention technology would prevent cyber attacks that result from breaching critical applications, and the
improper access and theft of valuable digital information.
According to the company’s CEO and president, Bruce Benn, approximately 90% of all
successful cyber attacks occur because the hackers gain improper access to an application.
Currently, various intrusion prevention systems detect malicious cyber attacks that breach
firewalls and networks once they occur and then take steps to stop the cyber attack and mitigate
the damage. This is a little like working your way from the bottom up. Interestingly, Validian
Corporation’s disruptive cyber security technology works from the top down.
The company’s top-down intrusion prevention technology prevents hackers from gaining access
to various applications and interfaces in the first place, thereby mitigating any threats before they
happen. In other words, why struggle kicking a burglar out of your house when you can actually
stop him at the gate? This is the first line of defense and the more solid it is the better. After all,
who knows who gets to live after letting the intruder enter your house?
Now, having said that, Validian Corporation has taken giant steps to making a triumphant entry
into the cyber security market. The company did not just launch the product for the sake of it, it
is looking to hit the road running. And why not? Validian has invested about $40 million in its
disruptive top-down intrusion prevention technology.
Therefore, it is critical that the commercialization of the product is executed in the most effective
way possible. This is particularly crucial because there are hosts of products in the market that
already boast significant levels of success. Additionally, most of these products as noted earlier
come from some of the world’s leading technology companies, with enormous financial muscle.
Here is a quick rundown of what the rivals have been up to recently
A lot has happened in the cyber security market over the last year. There have been a significant
number of acquisitions and collaborations in various projects aimed at increasing the market
share of the various parties. This serves to illustrate just how the cyber security market is
becoming increasingly competitive by the day.
On October 7 of last year, Cisco Systems announced that it had completed the acquisition of
Sourcefire in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Sourcefire is a leading provider of cyber security
solutions.
According to Cisco, this acquisition would help the network systems company to “provide one of
the industry's most comprehensive advanced threat protection portfolios, as well as a broad set of
enforcement and remediation options that are integrated, pervasive, continuous and open,” the
press release read.
The magnitude of security threats is growing every day due to evolving trends in mobility and
rapid growth in cloud computing services. Hackers are also revolutionizing the way they execute
attacks, which makes it even more difficult to stop them than a few years ago.
Late last year, November 19, to be precise, VMware and Palo Alto Networks teamed up to
develop jointly a virtualized network-generation firewall (NGFW) tightly integrated with
VMware's platform.
In January this year, Palo Alto also announced the acquisition of Morta Security, a cyber security
company founded by former NSA engineers. The company has been operating in stealth mode
since 2012, keeping secret its developments in the product pipeline. However, during this time,
the company was developing a next generation technology software to mitigate advanced cyber
threats.
According to Palo Alto’s founder and CTO Nir Zuk, the cyberspace is attracting a new
generation of threats, which he categorized as third generation. These threats are more
sophisticated than the first and second-generation threats like Malware.
“There is a new generation of sophisticated threats for enterprise networks including sandboxing
and others,” Zuk told Tech Crunch in January, adding that there are little protections from these
more sophisticated attacks.
Another cyber security company that has been in the market recently is FireEye. On January 2,
2014, FireEye announced the acquisition of Mandiant, a company popular for its emergency
responses for computer network breaches. The deal valued at $1 billion actually closed Monday,
December 30, 2013, but the companies delayed the announcement until Thursday January 2 after
markets closed.
With the overall computer security market valued at about $70 billion, it appears as though there
would be several acquisitions in coming years as companies rush to augment their operations and
strengthen market share.
In 2010, Intel Corporation acquired McAfee, one of the most popular companies in computer
network security market, and in October last year, it announced the acquisition of Sensory
Networks, a provider of software pattern matching technology for network security applications
for $20 million.
In general, this means that as long as a company has products targeted at a particular niche
market, the global giants will always be on the lookout for attractive acquisition candidates.
Breaking the barriers
Now, notice Validian Corporation’s disruptive technology. In many ways, it provides an
accretive potential for the company, either as an acquisition candidate or as a growth company
by complementing or enhancing existing cyber security offerings. Furthermore, it threatens to
replace the aging (circa 1995) and outmoded secure sockets layer (SSL) technology and
solutions for implementation and static management of security policies like encryption
algorithms and cryptographic keys, which is susceptible to cyber attacks. This could put a
sizeable number of companies that sell solutions dependent on SSL out of business unless they
adopt a top-down intrusion prevention system, so it stands to pass the test of competition.
According to statistics, global economic losses due to data theft and security breaches by
organized crime, hackers and insiders still exceeded $1.5 trillion during 2012 (McAfee) and
continue to grow. This is after implementing the use of the multi-layer security systems, which
have been effective enough to reduce the magnitude of potential losses associated with
cybercrime.
Nonetheless, as the figures dictate, there is still a whole lot of work remaining. Governments
have invested billions of dollars in the Network or “Perimeter” protection mechanisms, which
include well established, beneficial solutions such as firewalls, application firewalls, antivirus
and malware protection, intrusion detection systems, gateways and end-user authentication
systems, and yet, trillions of dollars are lost annually.
This implies that there is still an enormous chance in the cyber security market, and
technological advancements are only serving to balloon the opportunity.
This opportunity (or the gap) is what will help Validian Corporation breach the barriers to entry
as well as competitive threats as it prepares to launch its product in the market during this year.
In the recent past, we have witnessed cyber attacks against some of the leading companies
including Target, Nieman, LinkedIn and Facebook among others. Mashable also categorized
several companies as potential victims of the recently exposed Heart Bleed security bug that has
ravaged open sourced SSL (OpenSSL) based systems and solutions.
Therefore, as hackers strive to breach the barriers set by the current cyber security systems,
Validian Corporation would be relishing the opportunity to break the barriers to entry in this
expansive market, with its top-bottom new generation cyber security technology that seeks to
prevent hackers from knocking at the door.
Conclusion
Intrusion prevention technologies are essential in terms of neutralizing cybercrime. However, in
order for cyber security companies to be more ruthless in addressing the menace, they need to be
more proactive in developing their systems.
Validian Corporation seems to have identified the best way to do this, and by being the first of its
kind system, there is no doubt that its top-down cyber security system will form the benchmark
for future cyber-security systems.
Now, as the case has been, there will always be new threats as hackers continue to demonstrate
their addiction to breaching security systems. However, whether a black hat or a malicious
hacker; with the new top-down cyber security technology from Validian, this is bound to pose a
monumental challenge to cyber criminals.