The amount of data is growing exponentially every day. This tremendous growth has added demands on the technology industry, and while technologies have rapidly advanced in an attempt to keep up, they are not preventing cyber-attacks from occurring. Always being at the forefront of industry trends, Security First Corp. recognized the adverse impacts breaches have on organizations and took a data-centric approach to data security.
Security First Corp. has developed a cutting edge technology in the emerging and rapidly evolving cyber security space. With things moving at an incredibly fast pace in an ever-shifting market, Security First Corp. has had to be very nimble and adapt quickly to change. The company has achieved success because they’ve maintained a startup mentality throughout and continually holds an agile strategy and roadmap. Additionally, Security First Corp. has maintained many successful enterprise relationships that are very constructive and energetic.
Protect Your Data with the Best
Security First Corp. is the leader in data-centric security software. The company provides certified, provably secure data protection. Their core SPx™ (SecureParser® extended) technology is the most innovative and advanced cyber security solution available. This cryptographic splitting technology is not only U.S. Government FIPS 140-2 certified, but it also goes well beyond AES 256 encryption with innovation derived from more than 300 issued, allowed or pending patents.
State of the Art Security Products Putting Them Ahead of Competitors
Security First Corp.’s unique value proposition starts with their core SPx technology. Being software-based, their solutions are highly scalable and easy to use, and unlike other solutions which have high latency and overhead, their technology can perform at the speed of clear text. An internally integrated and transparent multi-tiered key management system eliminates the need for expensive hardware key stores to manage keys. Furthermore, SPx is the only technology with a complete cryptographic module that is FIPS 140-2 certified, satisfying the rigorous and stringent industry and government compliance requirements companies must meet today.
The SPx core technology goes beyond traditional encryption to provide advanced data protection. Its unique methodology encrypts the data, then randomly splits the data, makes the encrypted data fault tolerant and authenticates it, then disperses it into portions of data which can be stored or transmitted to unique physical or geographical locations. This is not typical data mirroring used for encryption. This is a key differentiator because the technology inherently provides high availability and data resiliency.
“We continually look for new opportunities to improve our existing products and create new products based on what the industry needs, increasing our data protection footprint and providing end-to-end security for enterprises,” says Mark.
At the end of the day, data that is secured by SPx based solutions is rendered useless to intruders in the event of a breach and only an authorized user can reconstruct the data. This technology is available in their SPxSHARC™ and SPxGateway™ software products. It is also available as a customized embedded solution that is OEM’d by some of the biggest names in technology.
Security First Corp. Products
SPxSHARC (Security, High Availability, Resiliency, Compliance) protects your data wherever it lives (on-premises, remote, cloud or hybrid). This industry leading product features a built-in Cryptographic Policy, Provisioning and Management platform which allows system administrators to manage and support servers (virtual or physical), control who is authorized into the systems (access controls), and the policy (security) manager to control via policy who gets access to what data. Additionally, auditing capabilities log every access and attempted access to protected data and reports this to existing SIEM (security information and event management) tools, immediately identifying threats so positive action can be taken on unauthorized access. This robust product allows for positive and proactive control over the entire data protection process with end-to-end integration and management, and all through a simplified “single pane of glass.” The SPxSHARC platform eliminates outsider threats, insider threats and significantly reduces errors and omissions.
SPxGateway is a virtual cloud storage appliance for businesses with compliance and confidentiality needs. SPxGateway is the most efficient way to take on-premises data and securely store it in low-cost cloud object storage. This innovative virtual appliance provides secure, resilient data protection that looks and acts like local storage, giving you secure protection when using cloud object storage. SPxGateway users can store critical data across multiple cloud providers (cloud spanning), ensuring no single vendor can control, change or limit access to the data.
Security First Corp. Custom OEM Solutions
The company’s core SPx technology is extremely versatile and can be customized and embedded into existing partner products to enhance data protection capabilities. Security First Corp. currently has relationships with cloud providers, infrastructure providers, federal agencies, point-of-sale (POS), wearables, server, storage and endpoint hardware companies to develop customized solutions.
Mark O’Hare, President and CEO of Security First Corp.
Mark is the founder and principle inventor of the SPx core technology. Transforming SPx from science to a technology, and ultimately commercially viable products over the last 14 years has been his greatest project. Mark invented SPx technology to solve the data security challenges of today and tomorrow. He saw beyond static-based computing and the limitations perimeter-based and traditional access control security solutions provided and realized that a data-centric approach in a virtualized world, where data is in-motion everywhere, is the only way to protect critical data.
Mark has more than 40 years of security related experience in which he has led multi-million to multi-billion dollar commercial and government security, engineering and manufacturing programs. Mark served 26 years in the United States Navy as a Navy Captain where he served as the Principal Executive Officer (PEO) and gained a wealth of understanding for the security challenges of the country. He has also co-authored more than 300 issued, allowed, granted or pending patents in the area of data-centric security, high availability and disaster recovery. From his early days in the military to now, Mark has had a passion for protecting the nation’s data. Protecting data that flows in and out of the millions of organizations in the U.S. drives his life’s work.
Mark’s Success Attributes
Mark’s success is based on his unrelenting vision to change things for the good and keep critical data assets protected. Additionally, he has surrounded himself with highly competent individuals who are willing to take risks and own any challenge set before them. Motivating them to be relentless in their work and confront industry expectations with newly found ideas has allowed Security First Corp. to evolve from a one-man organization to the organization it is today. The past and future of the company is only possible due to the unwavering work ethic of the Security First Corp. team and their commitment to Mark’s vision.
Mark’s Views on Today’s Security Industry Scenario
Our nation is constantly under cyber-attack. Our government leaders who fight the critical issue of cyber security everyday tell us the problem is getting worse and they are losing the battle more often than not. In today’s highly virtualized and dynamic world, data is everywhere and growing at incredible rates, making it extremely valuable. New technologies such as SPx and its use in OEM solutions from enterprise servers, cloud data security solutions, handheld devices to point of sale devices and additional solutions like SPxSHARC and SPxGateway are needed to win the war against cyber threats.
“Only when our data-centric technology (which renders data useless when breached) becomes ubiquitous will the breach threat get eliminated. Why would you break into a bank vault if there is no money in the vault?” states Mark.
The biggest challenge for Security First Corp. is driving the education and adoption of their game-changing technology and shifting the paradigm in the security arena, which has traditionally been a perimeter-based approach. As breaches increase and the penalties and negative implications for consumers, business, government, national security, etc. continue to grow, so does Security First Corp.’s value proposition in the marketplace.
Industry Recognitions Include:
- December 2014 – John Sculley, a former Apple CEO, highlights Cryptographic Bit-Splitting, Security First Corp.’s ground-breaking data security technology on FOX News.
- March 2015 – Gartner names Security First Corp. a “Cool Vendor” for Security Infrastructure Protection.
- July 2015 – Unisys Stealth, powered by SPx, Earns Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award.
- January 2016 – In America TV Documentary with James Earl Jones features Security First Corp. as an industry leader in data security with its groundbreaking SPx technology.
- July 2016 – Security First Corp. named as a Leading Technology in Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Software Defined Security Technologies, 2016.
Road to the Future
To support enterprises prioritizing data security and to bring technology to greenfield areas that will be market leaders in the years ahead. The company will continue to evolve cutting-edge technology and develop next-generation products to protect the vast amounts of data being generated on a continual basis. They will continue to support enterprises who are prioritizing their data security and to bring technology to greenfield areas that will be market leaders in the years ahead.
“We are bringing affordable, highly scalable, highly performant and easy to use data security to the enterprise, public, private and hybrid cloud. Our goal is to make data security possible for the smallest to the largest enterprises and improve efficiencies at more affordable prices than they could ever do on their own.” asserts Mark.
Mark’s Advice to the Young Entrepreneurs
Mark emphasizes that in terms of software engineering and the software industry, learn everything you can about the problem you are trying to solve. Look where others have failed, think originally about the problem you are solving and ask if the solution is sustainable, scalable easy to use and affordable. Above all, never stop trying. Believe in yourself, lead the way and others will follow you.