Live at DEMOfall 2009: Getting Secure and Getting Paid

The second half of Day One at DEMOfall 2009 saw a weird mix of security products (for both business and consumers), products designed around either getting paid or paying someone, and a couple of products that didn't seem to fit any other category at DEMOfall.

The afternoon session started out with a product of probably the most interest to businesses. Armorize HackAlert is a useful security product that fills a mostly unmet need for Websites. It can scan live Websites and find out if they've already been hacked, a nice tool for a business that wants to find and remove a problem before the outside world does. DEMOfall 2008 alumnus Intelius (who showed the creepily effective people finder iSearch at that show) displayed the creepily effective DateCheck, which lets mobile device users find out way too much information about their potential dinner dates.

The second batch of products were focused on payment systems, and the one that was of the most interest to me was one that another tech writer called the most boring product at DEMOfall. Cortera is another service that seems to fill a void for business today, especially small businesses. Cortera provides credit information on businesses large and small but then combines it with ratings from a community of small business owners, who provide feedback both good and bad on these businesses. So, for example, if a company has a habit of not paying suppliers or paying very late, a new catering business looking to provide services to the negligent company can then either choose to not do business with the deadbeat company or make sure they negotiate upfront payments.