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May 11, 2015 Issue

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Solution for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol that Simplifies the Process of Securing Networks

 


Jeff Hussey

Co-founder, President & CEO. Board of Directors

 

Tempered Networks

www.temperednetworks.com

 

Interview conducted by:

Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – May 11, 2015

 

CEOCFO: Mr. Hussey, what is the approach at Tempered Networks?

Mr. Hussey: Our approach is to recognize that although TCP/IP has become the backbone of global commerce and communications, it is fundamentally flawed from a security perspective and most efforts to secure IP networks are little more than band-aids. Tempered Networks is delivering customers a solution that successfully overcomes the inherent insecurity of TCP/IP. In doing so, we dramatically simplify the process of securing their networks. Not everybody knows that TCP/IP was invented in the late ‘50s by DARPA, a military research group, and it was originally intended to network nuclear missile silos, where weapons-grade physical security was assumed. What they developed was something that was very reliable, meaning that if one of those sites was hit, the traffic could easily be routed around it. However, it is completely insecure. Now that protocol has become the standard for global networking and communications, and an enormous security problem has been created; resulting in an equally enormous security business. Our goal is to greatly simplify how security is accomplished in TCP/IP-based networks by adding a secure encrypted layer to the protocol that allows people to add, change and modify their networks as easily as they would add, change and modify their Outlook databases.

 

CEOCFO: Many companies claim to have figured out the problem and have the answer. Why does Tempered Networks really have the answer?

Mr. Hussey: The simplest solutions are often the most difficult to come up with. A saying I like is, if you can’t describe your problem in a small number of words, you really don’t understand it. Although we are a startup, this solution has been under development at a very large company for nearly a decade. What we are shipping today is actually a fourth-generation solution. The environment where this solution was originally conceived was under continuous security threats. I characterize defense and aerospace contractors in general, which is the heritage of our solution, as being the world-cup of state sponsored espionage and recreational hacking. Any time there is an environment where wireless technologies or cellular technologies are used, there are openings to get into that network and hack them. Solving that problem required starting from a clean sheet of paper. Our approach was to apply security to IP-based communications that did not require skilled IT professionals to deploy and manage. It had to be sufficiently simple so that the non-IT people responsible for the departmental equipment being secured could do their work, without having to rely on their IT staff to maintain and apply updates and fixes to the underlying IT systems and network. A new approach was required. To accomplish this, we used  protocols that at the time were nascent, but are now widely acknowledged, accepted, and based on industry standards.  We incorporated those protocols, the host identity protocol (HIP) and IF-MAP, into our solution. Our approach is fundamentally different from that of any other security vendors. Here’s how: With Tempered, everything is encrypted and access to our secure encrypted channels is only allowed based on a white list. What other security vendors do is simply apply a variety of filters to traffic and hope that those filters will keep the bad actors out. What we do is create a completely different layer--an overlay network--that no one can join unless they are specifically identified and trusted within that context.

 

CEOCFO: What is involved in implementation?

Mr. Hussey: Our implementation is simple as well. Small, but hardened appliances we refer to as HIPswitches are deployed at either the physical or logical perimeter of the network. At the customer’s main data center, they install a product we refer to as the HIPswitch Conductor, a scalable orchestration engine. The orchestration engine hosts the SimpleConnect user interface. Once the HIPswitches are deployed, the operator simply decides which machine (or equipment, device, etc.) will talk to which machine within its network. Those explicit, secure encrypted channels are easily defined, and the network is implemented. Henceforth, all traffic on that network--between any number of devices--is secure and encrypted using AES 256, which is the highest level of encryption available today. Based upon a public/private key pair and either Tempered’s, or a company’s certificate authority.


CEOCFO: Who is using your service today?

Mr. Hussey: We have a wide variety of different customers, across several industries. Generically, they are manufacturers, operators of critical infrastructure, specifically fresh and wastewater utilities, electric utilities, etc. We also have municipalities and commercial businesses who use our solution to secure their point of sale infrastructure, ticketing kiosks, ATMs, etc. And, any number of different examples and vertical markets where there is a large number of end-point devices, each of which needs to be secure.

 

CEOCFO: How do you reach potential customers? How do they find you if they are looking and how do they know what to look for?

Mr. Hussey: We have a growing sales team, and a very ambitious marketing effort. We have a direct sales team and we have also established about a dozen channel partners, which we’ll continue to expand. We are establishing relationships with large OEM manufacturers as well. The interesting aspect of our solution and our go-to-market strategy is that, while we have focused on critical infrastructure, industrial control and manufacturing as our strategy, the application for our solution is incredibly widespread. Anyone who has a network based on TCP/IP can literally drop in our solution to either secure their network or add additional defense and depth to their existing architectures.

 

CEOCFO: When you are initially talking to someone about your service, are they skeptical?

Mr. Hussey: It really depends on the particular account we are speaking with. Some people believe that their networks are secure, and others recognize that they are not. The more sophisticated and informed users really understand how costly most conventional security approaches are. For example, it is incredibly labor-intensive to configure most firewalls products, most of which require 100 to 1,000 lines of configuration. Human error is inevitable. At any point in time, a configuration mistake can be made. When a mistake is made, that creates a vulnerability. For CIOs who recognize the labor intensity required to deploy and maintain a secure solution with traditional IT products, versus the simplicity of Temperd’s approach, it is a relatively straightforward discussion. Furthermore, so many of the departments and organizations who rely on critical infrastructure have not historically had any security. They have relied on their networks being air gapped, which means they were disconnected from everything. As technology advances, and industrial control networks and SCADA systems, for example, are increasingly connected to IP-based networks, they have become extremely vulnerable. One of the wonderful byproducts of our solution is that, once it is deployed, it effectively ‘cloaks’ that infrastructure from view. Any bad actor who is not a specifically trusted member of the network simply cannot see it. You cannot hack what you cannot see.


CEOCFO: What is the basic use plan for the recent funding you have received?

Mr. Hussey: We are going to invest that money in general corporate purposes to build a marketing staff, continue to increase our engineering capabilities and our sales team.

 

CEOCFO: Are there particular segments you are going after today or you are going to look for an increased interest? Do you see the enterprise side growing given all the recent breaches?

Mr. Hussey: We do. Our solution is broadly applicable to anyone who has a network based on TCP/IP. The initial markets that we focused on have been more industrial in nature, because many of those networks do not have security measures in place. This is an opportunity for us to help our customers deploy an inherently secure solution and not have to replace anything or waste any resources on architectures that might not give them the security that they are ultimately seeking. At the same time, there are enormous opportunities in commercial and enterprise markets as well with ATMs, casinos, and airports and airlines with their ticketing kiosks. We were recently informed of a new opportunity with super tankers, and other large merchant marine vessels. Because of the nature of how they are operated and the infrastructure that exists on those boats, they are incredibly vulnerable to being hacked, which would wreak havoc when they come into port. That is just another example of a use case where the consequences of a hack could be disastrous. With our approach, the cost of incorporating a solution that would prevent that situation is relatively modest.


CEOCFO: What surprised you as Tempered Networks has grown and developed?

Mr. Hussey: I have been astonished by the number of people who will take our call. When I first started in this business nearly 20 years ago selling load balancers, it was incredibly difficult to get anybody to pay attention to us (i.e. F5 Networks). People didn’t recognize the need for what we were doing. Today, the recognition of the need for advanced security solutions permeates most organizations, and it is top of mind for not just CIOs, but CEOs, CFOs and the Board of Directors.


CEOCFO: Put it all together for our readers. Why choose Tempered Networks?

Mr. Hussey: The reason to choose Tempered Networks is that any other solution in the market is simply an attempt to bolt on security to an infrastructure that is inherently insecure. The reason to choose Tempered Networks is to actually make your infrastructure inherently secure and to obviate the need for all the bolt on product that are simply bandages for a broader problem.



 

“Tempered Networks is delivering customers a solution that successfully overcomes the inherent insecurity of TCP/IP. In doing so, we dramatically simplify the process of securing their networks.”- Jeff Hussey


 

Tempered Networks

www.temperednetworks.com

 

Contact:

Alane Moran

206.321.4124

a.moran@temperednetworks.com




 

 



 

 


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