Startups

After two and a half years of R&D, Verodin emerges from stealth mode

The Reston-based company is looking to answer a really big question in cybersecurity: Is it working?

Verodin is kind of like security for your security. (Photo by Flickr user perspecsys.com, used under a Creative Commons license)

So here’s the thing with cybersecurity: It’s so big and such a hot topic and acknowledged to be so important and yet, as, say, an individual retail company, it’s still really difficult to know exactly what your “defensive posture” is.
If an attack happens, will the measures you have in place be enough? At the moment, executives deciding whether or not to beef up security have to depend either on the assurances of cyber-tech salesmen or the best guesses/gut feelings of their IT department.
Neither is quiet ideal, and Christopher Key, cofounder and CEO of Verodin, thinks it doesn’t have to be this way.
After his previous company Enira was acquired by ArcSight in 2006, Key spent some time consulting while dwelling on what he considers one of the really big questions of cyber security — is it working? Key and his team founded Verodin to answer just that very question, and now, after two and a half years of R&D, the company is “coming out of stealth.”
Key said the timing couldn’t be better. “Five years ago cybersecurity was just a checkbox,” he told Technical.ly. But now, in an era were huge data breaches make international headlines on the regular, “people are really hungry for this information.”
The initial philosophy of cybersecurity was prevention-focused, seeking “defense in depth.” This, essentially, means “have as many layers of security as possible.” But how well do those layers work together? Are there any gaps all layers share?
Reston-based Verodin aims to “help companies understand how their cyber tech will respond” to an attack, allowing those companies, in turn, to ask whether they’re happy with what’s in place. It’s kind of like security for your security.
Verodin’s software uses “Instrumented Security” to gather this information by safely executing attack behavior to generate reports on what security is going to see when a given attack is perpetrated, what it’s not going to see and how it will respond. This is valuable information not only for a company’s cyber team, but also for executives strategically deciding when and where to build out security capabilities.
Key puts it this way: “If you’re interested in the effectiveness of the dollars spent on security, you’ll be interested in this.”
Yeah, that sounds pretty interesting.

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

The person charged in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had a ton of tech connections

From rejection to innovation: How I built a tool to beat AI hiring algorithms at their own game

Where are the country’s most vibrant tech and startup communities?

The looming TikTok ban doesn’t strike financial fear into the hearts of creators — it’s community they’re worried about

Technically Media