Damballa Provides Failsafe Against Targeted Threats

Company:

Headquarters: Atlanta, Ga.

Technology Sector: Security

Key Product: Damballa Failsafe

Year Founded: 2006

Number of Channel Partners: 3 worldwide

Ideal Channel Partner: Enterprise-focused solution provider

Why You Should Care: Damballa's Failsafe network security appliances were created to block targeted attacks, such as botnets, specifically aimed at corporate financial and intellectual assets.

The Lowdown: If you ask Damballa executives about its mission to eradicate targeted threats, they'll say that the company fulfills more than just a niche component of security. Instead, they say that targeted attacks have become the norm as highly organized armies of cyber criminals launch increasingly sophisticated malware on large enterprise targets for financial gain.

"We actually think that it's not a specific niche. It's the way threats have evolved over the past year to two years," said Damballa CEO Steve Linowes. "It's now a mainstream problem we need to solve as an industry."

Damballa is selectively recruiting channel partners, specifically looking for security-focused partners that specialize in enterprise and federal government accounts. Its Failsafe product line addresses the growing problem of highly sophisticated security threats that target corporate financial assets, intellectual property and other classified information. Often Trojans, worms and other malware are delivered to enterprise organizations via malicious botnets that communicate with their creators. Once attackers have access to the victim's machine, they can then launch malware to record keystrokes and steal data and authentication credentials for identity theft activities, Linowes said.

To prevent these threats, Damballa's flagship Failsafe network security appliances are designed to hone in on targeted attacks, such as botnets, by locating, identifying and tracking compromised assets as they move on and off the network. The product then alerts the client in real time when a vulnerability or compromise is detected.

While Failsafe can be operated in-house, partners can also manage the appliance for their clients, and then wrap their own consulting or assessment services around the offering.

Going forward, executives say that they're also currently working on a Failsafe remediation component, which would run prescription pack downloads along with a list of suggested actions needed to be taken to fix the problem and keep the customer's Web environment secure.

"Bots are a lot more than a source of spam," Linowes said. "This is not just that a bot equals spam, its that a bot equals a very core business risk."