Erkios Systems: Actively Shielding Against Insider Threats

“Et tu, Brute?” This historical example of the ultimate insider betrayal symbolizes the vileness of the insider threat that initiates a chain of heavy losses. Enterprises continue to trust the use of legacy systems and high-cost, inefficient manual efforts to mitigate this risk but remain exposed to numerous insider threats such as untrusted media insertion (i.e. USB) and port hijacking. As security and networking experts at a major electric utility, Sean Null and Philip Vanderstraeten discovered how many systems that form the security backbone of enterprises fail to legitimately defend against insider threats. The duo’s search for the right solution yielded zero results, but it kickstarted their journey towards founding Erkios Systems and innovation of their physical access control system—FortiFi—now a patented product. “Our solution provides real-time monitoring of the physical access to input/output (I/O) ports,” states Null, CEO, Erkios Systems. Sean also dubs FortiFi as a Smart Lock that aims to prevent manipulation and tampering of data.

The company has developed FortiFi as a unique ecosystem of port-level hardware, wireless data collection, and a database-driven dashboard that assist organizations with real-time monitoring of physical access to I/O ports on their most vulnerable devices. FortiFi provides the same level of physical security for devices irrespective of their underlying hardware or software, seamlessly locking down any used port, unused port, and cable with active FortiFi sensors. If the FortiFi sensors are tampered with, they immediately raise an alarm. These sensors report their status to its associated FortiFi access point (AP) that then internally relays that information to the FortiFi server. The system communicates out-of-band and relies on its own dedicated, far-range wireless network without depending on the internal networks of the organization. “FortiFi provides active detection of unauthorized access at the physical communication layer to empower businesses with control of their systems,” says Vanderstraeten, COO, Erkios Systems.

The cost-effective and audit-friendly FortiFi system not just enables businesses to combat data leaks but also simplifies their risk and compliance audit processes.