SafeMedia's mission is to provide individual users, businesses, educational institutions, and government organizations with an immediate and effective way to safeguard their network infrastructure, data, and mission critical applications by stopping network threats before they impact their business and delivering protection to all layers of the network - its core, perimeter, and remote segments - without sacrificing high-speed network performance.
Opportunity
Network Security, Internet Intrusion Prevention and Detection, and Data Security are at the top of every responsible organization's risk management plan. A quick search of recent news articles show the number of organizations that have been hit by hackers, malware, and other threats despite having network security and intrusion protection systems. Loss of sensitive or confidential company and customer data can ruin a company's reputation and the cost of cleaning up a data breach can run in the millions. "The ability of bad guys to enter, steal, exit and do it in a way that's undetectable is rising," said Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute, a Cyber security research corporation. "It's a big problem and it is getting worse." According to the Ponemon Institute research, US companies will spend more than $130 billion protecting their data and correcting breaches - more than triple the amount spent in 2006.
The Gartner Group reported that enterprises in North America spent roughly 5.5 percent of their overall IT budgets on security in 2010 and expects this segment of the IT market to continue growing. In fact, some experts believe that companies should be spending at least 10% to 15% of their IT budget on network security to be properly defended against attacks. According to Market research firm Infonetics Research, the Intrusion Prevention System segment of the network security market grew despite the recession in 2009 and posted double-digit revenue growth in 2010.
In a recent article, published by PRNewswire, stating the growing concern realized in Cloud Computing, and the lack of standards associated with security surrounding Cloud scenarios, whether they are public or private. The publication speaks to the growing concern of non-existent security solutions and standards to officiate cohesive coverage within the Cloud Computing industry. Both providers and end users of cloud computing resources need a clear understanding of the compliance issues and risks at hand when deciding to enter this space. The very nature of cloud computing - with its external management concept - opens the door for questions about data security and how this process should be managed. The model allows companies hosting the cloud services to monitor communications and data between the end user and the host - opening the door for privacy and security concerns."
One of the most reliable predictors of market attractiveness is employment data: There are now 2.25 million cyber security professionals working in the United States, nearly double the 1.3 million that were working in cyber security in 2006. Cyber security is a rapidly expanding market with all the major market research companies reporting high growth now and for the next few years.
Products and Technology
SafeMedia's HaloNS is an appliance built with "off the shelf hardware" and SafeMedia's patented software and neural network technology that analyzes network packets in route from a source to a destination at network wire speed. Any packet determined to be a threat, a potential threat, or carrying unauthorized sensitive data is intercepted and either blocked or rerouted for further analysis.
HaloNS incorporates a new, hardened non-IP centric technology that runs each packet through a deep Intelligent Protocol Behavioral Analysis. Each network packet includes a DNA signature that is scrutinized by over 42,000 rules managed by the system. Those packets identified as definitely belonging to one of the specified protocols are prevented from reaching their target destination. Those packets identified as only likely belonging to one of the specified protocols are permitted to continue toward their target destination after select information about the particular session/packet is recorded for later use. Those packets identified as not belonging to one of the specified "threat" protocols are permitted to continue to their target destination.
HaloNS runs independently of an external OS at the kernel level and is thus much faster and more stable than typical software applications. Running at the kernel level also allows the deep packet inspection to occur without any network degradation.
HaloNS has an intuitive drill-down graphic user interface to accelerate troubleshooting and threat resolution. Network Security professionals can utilize the interface to conduct real-time, packet-level forensics and adjust the security thresholds for internal, incoming, and outgoing traffic. HaloNS provides a set of powerful widget web-based graphical interfaces that enable the network security operations team to pro-actively manage complex infrastructures.
HaloNS is designed to be easily managed remotely to support multi-location enterprises, public or private Cloud deployments, and the small business community. SafeMedia will leverage these capabilities to provide Managed Network Security Services for companies that prefer to contract for SaaS (Security as a Service) network security.
SafeMedia will market both a product and a service: The HaloNS Network Security Appliance and Managed Network Security Services based on HaloNS appliances installed on client sites or remotely and managed by SafeMedia. In addition, SafeMedia's technology can be used to create other types of commercial sensors and can be imbedded within consumer grade network protection devices.
Value Proposition
SafeMedia provides enterprises with the network security needed to protect their intellectual property, preserve the privacy of critical customer information, maintain regulatory compliance and assure business continuity. SafeMedia's HaloNS network appliance offers customers five unique value propositions:
Protection against newly discovered and evolving threats: SafeMedia's technology examines the behavior and "DNA" of every packet against a database of over 42,000 rules. Any unusual packet can be detected and intercepted.
Near Wire Speed Operation: SafeMedia's software communicates directly with the device processors. It operates at the kernel level and is independent of the Operating system which allows HaloNS to operate at "near wire speed" with no measurable impact on network performance.
Dual Vector Protection: HaloNS examines incoming network traffic to prevent intrusions and outgoing network traffic to detect and prevent unauthorized transfer of data. Sensitive data such as Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers, medical diagnosis codes, and user defined data (for example, the words "Company Confidential") can be detected and reported or blocked through SafeMedia's signature detection technology.
HaloNS Application Layer Security (HALS): Addresses the gap in the ever growing need for a turnkey security solution within the Cloud Computing arena. HALS, by creating hooks into orchestration and automation tool-sets, allows cloud applications to be secured autonomously before the physical or virtual infrastructure goes live. HALS can secure distributed applications and aggregate threat detection within physical, virtual, internal, or external Cloud Fabrics, while still affording the same protection as if the infrastructure was to reside in the local area network.
Custom Control and Forensics: SafeMedia's unique and copyrighted graphical user interface (UI) gives the network security professional instant access to multiple layers of information, the ability to see potential threats in real time, and the opportunity to adjust thresholds to maximize performance and security.
Managed Network Security Services: Large enterprises require central management of their network security equipment, however many small companies do not have the expertise or budget to implement a network security strategy beyond an anti-virus program and a firewall. Large enterprises will appreciate the remote management tools. SafeMedia will leverage the remote management capabilities of HaloNS and offer network security as a service.
