Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Skyport Unveils its Hyper-Secured Servers

Skyport Systems, a start-up based in Mountain View, California unveiled its "hyper-secured" server architecture for delivering trusted computing and policy enforcement at the application edge.

The SkySecure System enforces policy on hosted workloads without software agents or network changes. The architecture tightly integrates the components of multiple security appliances that were not designed to work together, reduces the threat surface by removing physical attack vectors and implements Intel's Trusted Execution Technology. SkySecure is designed for deployment at the most critical points of infrastructure, including exposed DMZs, branch and remote environments, high-value business applications and foundational IT control systems such as Microsoft Active Directory, DNS servers and virtualization/cloud/big data/SDN controllers. No changes are required to networks, applications, or operating systems. The company says its server is designed to catch and contain malware and rootkits.

Hardware, firmware and software components are validated at the point of manufacture and continuously monitored once deployed. After properly attesting, the system boots a fully
whitelisted Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) implementation. SkySecure Compartments enable a dynamic whitelist and application-layer protections around each workload deployed on a SkySecure Server, houses them in a synthetic operating environment and assumes a zero-trust posture regarding all network access.

The SkySecure platform consists of three main components: on-premise trusted computing systems, software-based/hardware-enforced compartments that enforce policy around each hosted virtual machine and centralized management and monitoring that centrally orchestrates security policy and enables total application visibility.


“Every CIO we’ve talked to has deployed virtualization, single-sign on, cloud and big data systems to automate processes and make IT more agile, but this has resulted in critical control points in the infrastructure,” said Douglas Gourlay, corporate vice president of Skyport Systems. “Skyport Systems is delivering a system that is secure by default: from the point of inception, not belated integration. We are building a hyper-secured infrastructure foundation for mission-critical systems.”

https://www.skyportsystems.net


  • In April 2015, Skyport Systems announced $30 million in Series B funding for its Hyper-Secured Infrastructure solutions.  The new funding was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Intel Capital and existing investor Sutter Hill Ventures. The Series B round brings total Skyport funding to $37M.
  • Skyport is headed by Stefan Dyckerhoff, who previously was GM of routing and switching at Juniper Networks, which he originally joined as employee #33 working in chip design.