Dennis Blanchette: Securing End-user Behavior

By Bud on August 22, 2007 TrackBacks (2) Comments (1)

Dennis Blanchette, CEO of Ensure Technologies, explains and demonstrates Ensure's Xyloc product. Xyloc's innovation is to help resolve the typical information systems security/convenience trade-off so that one achieves much greater security for a given level of convenience.

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Filed under: Dennis Blanchette | Ensure Technologies | Enterprise Software | Finding Gaps | IT Security | Ypsilanti, MI

In this six and a half minute podcast (download iPod compatible, 35MB), Dennis Blanchette and I discuss what he terms "walk away security" in the context of securing end-user behavior. Dennis is the CEO of Ensure Technologies. Ensure produces and markets the Xyloc RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) security system, and has been in existence ten years.

Since security requires restricting access to only those who require certain resources, there is always a trade-off between security and convenience. End-users focused on efficiently performing their roles often find these restrictions onerous, particularly if the restriction requires them to go through a lengthy re-authentication protocol after, say, only a short time away from a resource.

Dennis discusses and demonstrates how Xyloc provides one answer to this trade-off:

  • Xyloc functions based on a radio handshake between a card you wear around your neck and receiver located near the resource.
  • When the card moves more than a certain distance from the reader, the user is logged out.
  • When the user moves back within the prescribed distance, he or she is automatically logged back in.
  • Xyloc integrates well with other security measures such as biometric scanning and password authentication.

In future segments, we will discuss how Dennis plans to grow Xyloc's user base and potentially move into new product offerings. We will also outline the importance of the enterprise market for accelerating a small company's growth.

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1 Comments

Nicholas Jackson on November 12, 2007 10:43 PM
I feel that this is a truly outstanding product that brings an almost immeasurable value to a business. Speaking from the experience I’ve had with my employer, our personal desktops are becoming more and more valuable and vulnerable by the day. Currently, our Senior I.T. Administrator requires a control-alt-delete whenever we leave our desks. This sounds very simple and effective in theory, although in reality this probably only happens at lunch and at the end of the day. I would guess that most employees feel that the importance of their data is minimal or that they would never be gone long enough for someone to pilfer through their system. Honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. I work for a small manufacturing firm in Ypsilanti as the inventory control manager. My office is located in our assembly area, which allows me quick access to the entire inventory I manage. This location also allows many of the assembly workers access to my computer. Being that I’m responsible for our inventory, I have access to all reaches of our accounting software and many areas on our company network. Returning from lunch one day, I found an employee casually surfing the internet from my system, as I had forgot to lock it before I left. Obviously, he meant no harm, but I can easily see the harm that I could have been responsible for. I had left our accounting software running and since he was on my system, access to the company network was just a click away. This product simply removes the human element from the equation. Like many business processes through the years, innovators have discovered that humans, by design, are not the models of efficiency. Assembly lines, automated assembly, even barcodes have lent credibility to this argument. Even something as simple as locking your computer isn’t so simple after all. This is an example of an innovation addressing a recognized gap in the market. This product is a win – win for any organization that employs its services. It saves employees time by shortening the re-authentication process, while still protecting the assets of the organization. Regards – Nicholas B. Jackson Eastern Michigan University

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