From today's National Post:
Net defence firms cashing in on hacker hits
Detecting problems: Canadian firms offer innovative approaches
Michael Lewis
Financial Post
Chris Wood, Calgary Herald
Jim Morrison chief programmer of Jaws Technologies which ran a $5-million dollar break the code contest where more than 700 hackers and crackers tried but none succeeded.
Pat Mcgrath, the Ottawa Citizen
Breaking the code: John Ryan, president and chief executive of Entrust, and Michele Axelson, chief financial officer.
HACKERS' HITS: E*Trade Group Inc.: The number two online broker in the United States, based in Menlo Park, Calif.
HACKERS' HITS: ZDNet: Well-known Web site owned by Ziff-Davis that provides information about computers and technology.
HACKERS' HITS: Buy.com Inc.: Internet retailer sells a range of consumer products. It saw its shares nearly double on Tuesday for its market debut, just as hackers took down its Web site.
HACKERS' HITS: eBay Inc.: Globally known Internet auction company began as Web site for Pez dispenser enthusiasts.
HACKERS' HITS: CNN.com: Popular Web site for CNN, the Atlanta-based all-news channel founded by Ted Turner.
HACKERS' HITS: Yahoo! Inc.: World's best-known Internet Web portal with a market capitalization of about $95- billion (US).
HACKERS' HITS: Amazon.com Inc.: The founding father of e-commerce began selling books online and has expanded to toys, electronics and software.
Three consecutive days of Web site attacks in the United States have boosted the shares of Internet security companies, including Nortel Networks Corp. spinoff Entrust Technologies Inc.
Entrust, based in Texas but with a large employee base in Ottawa, saw its shares rise yesterday, along with such rivals as ISS Group Inc. of Atlanta, which makes software to detect hacker interference.
Other U.S.-based companies, including RSA Security Inc., whose products scramble data, and SonicWall Inc., which makes security software for consumers' computers, all rose as investors bet the attacks will lead to new demand for network security products.
That demand is expected to increase after hackers this week temporarily disabled Web sites run by eBay Inc., Yahoo Inc. and others.
There is no shortage in Canada of security software companies, many privately held. But a few firms stand out, including Entrust, Certicom Corp., Blockade Systems Corp., Jaws Technologies Inc., Cryptologic Inc., SLMsoftcom Inc. and Tetranet Software Inc., which recently relaunched as Watchfire.
Both Jaws of Calgary and Toronto's Blockade have garnered attention for their innovative approaches to developing systems that promote secure online commerce.
Jaws, for example, has developed an encryption code it calls virtually unbreakable and says its XMail product combines encryption software with an open, public key system.
Providing security products and consulting services to the health care, finance, law enforcement and legal industries, along with government, it has grown rapidly through acquisitions in Canada and the United States.
Blockade, for its part, develops network security for electronic commerce that includes remote access user authentication software and password software for large and mid-sized businesses.
Blockade says its products are especially efficient because they use existing infrastructure, rather than new system architecture.
Watchfire, of Kanata, Ont., markets a line of of Internet maintenance software that helps companies identify and locate problems on their e-business Web sites.
Its Web-testing software is used by customers in 60 countries, with its client list including Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Corp.
Toronto's Certicom, one of the best-performing stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the fourth quarter of 1999, sells security software and consulting services, largely to firms in the wireless communications sector.
The software is used for palm-top computers, phones and smart-cards for Internet protection. Entrust, similarly, has partnered with Nokia Inc., the world's largest phone maker, to develop software that will let users conduct secure electronic transactions over mobile phones.
Certicom, meanwhile, has broken through the $1-billion market cap threshold, while shares in U.S. rival RSA have gained 285% since August.
"Ecash," software that allows users to "perform secure electronic transactions with credit cards," is among the security products developed and marketed by Cryptologic, which is traded on the TSE.
Founded by brothers Andrew and Mark Rivkin in 1995 with modest seed financing, the company says it has set a benchmark against which other security software products are measured.
But Internet security industry observers say encryption and other security software would not have prevented the hacking attacks this week -- blamed on everything from rival companies to international terrorists.
The hacking was possible because the perpetrators were able to hide their identity, and to trigger a continuous loop of e-mail messages. The problem could have been prevented if the networks were programmed with security threats in mind.
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