Cloaking device will make data invisible to hackers
N.S. firms hope to launch new software within months
Two small Nova Scotia firms say they are on the verge of launching a “cloaking device” that will vastly improve computer security by making a user’s activities invisible to hackers.
“It is basically something to stop people from spying on what you are doing with your computer,” says Stephen Hankinson, vice-president of Halifax’s Quark Engineering and Development Inc.
Soft Media Publishing, in Bear River, has contracted Quark Engineering to develop the new program it says will make a computer user’s activities undetectable to trojans, worms, viruses, bots and keyloggers.
Soft Media , a computer security firm, expects to get the new product to market in the next couple of months.
Cyber criminals are constantly creating new software to obtain banking passwords and credit card information. They can also capture financial information from corporate e-mails and even chats, says Grey McKenzie, owner of Soft Media Publishing.
“There are all sorts of things that want to get at your private and personal information. . . . The years are gone where people just really want to cause mischief. There is so much money involved,” Mr. McKenzie said Wednesday.
Mr. McKenzie, who moved to Nova Scotia from Florida four years ago, developed and marketed the anti-spy software SpyCop in 2000. He also runs the website www.nationalcybersecurity.com, which posts the latest computer security news and events.
“We have been in the security software business for quite a while and our target is really protecting people’s privacy,” he said.
Because of the Internet, Mr. McKenzie said he can work anywhere. He and his wife decided to move to Nova Scotia because they loved it, and it was a better place to keep horses. The couple are in the process of setting up a ranch in the Valley.
“One of our passions is horse-whispering and things like that. When we are not doing software and Internet security, we are out playing with the horses.”
For this venture, Mr. McKenzie decided to team up with Quark Engineering, whose specialty is software design and coding. He became interested in Quark’s work after being introduced to Stephen Hankinson, vice-president of the company.
Mr. Hankinson, who co-owns the company with Tim Burke, said it is the first security project for Quark, which was established a year ago.
Most antispyware programs now work by looking for signatures or the footprint of a specific program in your computer. The programs compile a large list of all the spyware and try to remove it or stop it.
“What we’re building is some software that will stop all the spy software from seeing (when) you type in your information when you are logging in online, when you are chatting on MSN or whatever your chat program is, or even when you are typing word documents,” Mr. Hankinson said.
“This doesn’t work on signatures. . . . It doesn’t matter what type of spy software it is, it won’t be able to see anything happening in the system.”
Mr. McKenzie said that over time, changes or upgrades will probably have to be made to the program to keep hackers away.
Soft Media is paying Quark for its work, and Quark has also secured a small royalty agreement, Mr. Hankinson said.
The two companies say they expect this will be the first of many joint projects.
(cmellor@herald.ca)
www.thechronicleherald.ca
