This article was published on August 3, 2011

6scan breaks stealth with its proactive website security startup


6scan breaks stealth with its proactive website security startup

If you’ve not yet had a security problem with your website then you’re either very skilled or you’re very lucky. Across the world, there were 1.5 million successful website attacks in 2010 alone. Of those, SQL injections accounted for between 30 and 40 percent of the damage done.

The problem, according to Nitzan Miron of 6scan is that the existing products are either prohibitively expensive or they require specialized knowledge in order to make them work. What’s left? Products that simply aren’t very good, in Miron’s eyes.

That’s why he and his co-founder, Yaron Tal built 6scan. The idea is that, if every website could afford reasonable, effective protection then the overall amount of successful attacks would decrease exponentially. By implementing a tiered system, with pricing starting at just $10 per month, that’s exactly what 6scan is looking to provide. All that will be required is a mouse click. There’s no need to install any scripts and you don’t even have to change DNS settings.

Up until now, the company has been in a very quiet, stealth mode while it put the finishing touches on its security products known as Patrol and Bodyguard. The two products work in conjunction. Patrol will scan for known and unknown threats constantly, calling upon the Bodyguard product to automatically fix the problem before it becomes a problem.

This is where Miron believes that 6scan can really set itself apart. He posits that most security products only fix vulnerabilities after they become a problem. By taking a more proactive approach, the team believes that 6scan can stop problems from happening, rather than just fixing them when they do.

6scan is still in its very quiet phases and we should see the full suite of its products before the end of this year. That tiered pricing model will be based on a number of factors, including the site’s traffic as well as the necessity for specialized systems as would be the case for e-commerce sites.

The team has just taken in an undisclosed amount of funding from YL Ventures, and YL Ventures’ Managing Partner Yoav Andrew Leitersdorf will join the 6scan board to help drive the direction of the business forward.

The company is actively recruiting, right now, with a hacker challenge. It has operated its closed beta with a hosting provider in its native Israel and is talking to a number of US website hosting providers in order to close partnerships for expanding its service. The tiered pricing points aren’t fully set in stone, just yet, but we do know that the $10 per month basic coverage is going to be available.

If you’re familiar with Israel than you’ll know that there’s a mandatory 3-year term for all men in the Israeli Defense Force when they turn 18. Miron and Tal both served in what Miron calls the “Israeli NSA”, working to protect military information from hackers. With credentials like that and from what I’ve seen of 6scan so far, it’s a promising startup. For now, if you want to keep up with what the team is doing, you can leave an email address on the 6scan site and rest assured that TNW will keep you informed as the products launch.

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