It is impossible to have too many new ideas about improving data security. Individual hackers and state-sponsored bad-actor groups alike certainly continue to come up with their own “innovations” as they constantly crack into systems worldwide, day in and day out.
Here’s an interesting new defensive idea: malware isolation. Menlo Security, pioneer of this new-generation security approach, revealed Oct. 6 that JPMorgan Chase & Co. has inducted the startup into its Hall of Innovation for its development of the Menlo Security Isolation Platform, which helps to eliminate the risk of malware and targeted phishing attacks from the web and email.
Once a year the JPMorgan Chase Hall of Innovation recognizes select emerging tech companies for their innovation, business value and disruptive nature. The award was presented at JP Morgan’s Eighth Annual Technology Innovation Symposium, held in Menlo Park, Calif.
How the Isolation Platform Works
“We were impressed by Menlo Security’s innovative approach to protecting the firm from web-based threats. Its Isolation Platform has been integrated into our enterprise with zero impact to users, providing a seamless user experience for our employees,” said Rohan Amin, chief information security officer at JP Morgan Chase & Co. “We are committed to spearheading the adoption of impactful cyber-security innovation, as exemplified by Menlo Security.”
The Isolation Platform eliminates malware from the web and email via a new architectural approach. Basically, it provides a secure layer between the web and email and the user device to handle a browser session. When the session is over, the whole process vanishes with not a trace left behind.
Unlike current threat prevention systems that attempt to distinguish good content from bad, Menlo Security isolates and executes all web and email content in the safety of its Isolation Platform, allowing only safe visual output to reach user devices.
The patented technology is simple to deploy, requires no endpoint software or plug-ins and delivers a 100 percent secure and completely native user experience, essentially indistinguishable from direct interaction with web and email, Menlo Security CEO and co-founder Amir Ben-Efraim said.
Information from Project Going into Other Products
“Menlo Security is honored to receive the prestigious Hall of Innovation award for 2016,” Ben-Efraim said. “Collaborating with JPMorgan Chase as a design partner has allowed us to develop a solution based on the real-world requirements of one of the world’s most complex and demanding IT environments.
“We have packaged these learnings into our offerings, to enable easy adoption by smaller companies seeking the security benefits typically available only to major enterprises,” he said.
eWEEK’s Sean Michael Kerner published a video interview with Menlo Security CTO Kowsik Guruswamy last March, and covered the company’s emergence from stealth in June 2015, as well as their early funding in 2014.