Yoggie Security Systems raises $1 million
Innovative data protection company offers network security for mobile devices: Yoggie Gatekeeper physically isolates laptops from incoming Internet threats; if an attack is successful, Yoggie Gatekeeper is hit first and will not allow further damage to the laptop
Mobility — as in the mobile work-force — has many advantages, but security is not one of them. The portable devices emplpyees cary may be stolen or misplaced, and the communication between the traveling employee and headquarters may be intercepted and compromised. Into this breash steps data protection start-up Yoggie Security Systems. The Rishon Letzion, Israel-based company has raised $1 million from Silicom Ventures, EarlyBird Ventures of New York, and private Israeli investors. Note that Yoggie is also in the process of holding a larger financing round to finance completion of its product development.
The company’ss Serial entrepreneur Shlomo Touboul founded Yoggie and serves as its chairman, and CEO. The company has raised $2 million to date, and announced the launch of its product for serial production last week.
Yoggie came to the data protection market with a good idea: The miniature security processor. Not that the very concept of specialized processors is new. In the 1980s the mathematical processor was introduced in order to allow complex calculations to be performed by a specialized mathematical processor rather than the main processor. During the last five years, the same revolution took place with the introduction of a specialized network processor which would free the main processor from networking tasks.
Yoggie’s miniaturized security processor is as powerful as a Pentium III processor (520 Bps), and it continues the trend of offloading specialized tasks from the main processor in order to attain better performance — but not only performance. Unlike security software installed on the laptop, the Yoggie Gatekeeper uses the same approach that is used to protect the corporate network — physical separation of the first line of defense. Yoggie Gatekeeper, a robust security appliance with a hardened Linux-based OS, physically isolates the laptop from incoming Internet threats. Now, since Yoggie Gatekeeper is up front in the security trenches instead of the laptop itself means it can protect from unknown attacks, dropping the connection as they are identified. If, for any reason, the attack is successful, Yoggie Gatekeeper is hit first and will not allow further damage to the laptop.
-read more in Batya Feldman’s Globes report; read more about the underlying technology at company Web site
