Route1 Issues Open Letter To MobiKEY Users….. Stock Nosedives….. Is There A Connection?
Something really weird happened today to Canadian tech company Route1 whom I have written about previously. At 8AM today, this press release from CEO Tony Busseri appeared on their website and on the wires. I have reprinted it below in it’s entirety:
Dear MobiKEY Users,
Since joining Route1, I have focused our team’s efforts on executing our business plan. As a result, Route1 is on a path of accelerated growth and is working with corner stone accounts such as the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In addition, as I mentioned in the most recent earnings release, we are building a significant base of potential business and developing new applications that we believe will add to profitability in the future.
Unfortunately, in the modern age of the Internet, online publications allow for the rapid and broad dissemination of information on companies whether the information is factual or misleading. Last week, I was quoted in an AOL Defense article online, where Route1’s technology was explained. In light of the recent activity and concerns, I believe it is important to set the record straight about Route1 regarding our technology and exactly how our security and identity management products and services provide the highest level of remote access security on the market today.
What has been misrepresented goes to the heart of our technology. Route1’s technology is patented (U.S. Patents 7,739,726 and 7,814,216) and is proven to “let federal workers telecommute securely using ordinary computers and mobile devices, not just specially lobotomized ones”. A key part of a Route1 delivered secure remote access session is that the enterprise’s data is not allowed to exit the enterprise’s network, and thus advance beyond the confines of the enterprise’s firewall(s) which are built to protect the data. We call that ‘protecting the fortress’.
Whether or not a teleworker is using a personal device or an enterprise computer makes absolutely no difference to us. With Route1’s solution, what is essentially happening is the host computer is sending encrypted screen shots to the mobile device; be it laptop, tablet, or other similar devices, and the mobile device or guest computer keystrokes and mouse movements are being sent encrypted back to the host computer to be effected on the host computer. As a direct result of Route1’s solution architecture, data on the mobile device can NOT be mixed with the enterprise’s data.
The final result being that it is impossible for a hacker to piggy-back a Route1 connection or penetrate an enterprise’s firewall during a Route1 data session. The data is completely secure.
That is the Route1 difference. We always put security first by protecting the fortress.
Sincerely,
Tony Busseri
Now it made we wonder what article he was talking about. A quick Google search found this article. It talks about Route1 and their technology and quotes Busseri. It does have this quote that got my attention:
Ultimately, though, as is often the case in computing and security more generally, the biggest problem is not the technology but the people using it. When you read stories that “someone had left their damn laptop on the train, sorry, that’s not a shortcoming of the system, that’s a shortcoming of the person,” Wilsker said. “These people are not adequately trained,” he went on. “The fear of God has to be put into people.”
That’s true. The weak point when it comes to security is the user because some users do dumb things. But that’s a given. There is also a note at the bottom of the article that indicates that the article was revised to clarify the security features of the Route1 software.
Although there is a bit of a cynical tone to the article, there’s nothing here that should have caused this to happen to the stock price:
That’s one hell of a dive. Now the stock has floated as low as $0.03 a share in late 2008 and at the moment it appears to be heading back there again. But the question is, why the dive? Is it this article followed by the press release from today which has spooked investors? Is it something else such as the overall turmoil in the markets? Perhaps investors are getting out as they were disappointed with Route1’s recent results? I don’t know for sure. I’m a IT nerd, not a stock analyst. Perhaps someone who does watch stocks for a living can chime in and comment on what happened. However I don’t need a economics degree to see that this company is in deep trouble at the moment. At this point, I don’t know what can save them. And that’s too bad for them as they seemed to have a bright future.
May 16, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Stock is back up to .055. Wilsker & Eric Friedberg are obviously not up to par with Route1 Inc. technology. My question to Tony is…Has anyone hacked in, broken in, piggy backed in on a secure client yet since the integration of the MOBI-key? The answer I suspect would be no. The number of reorders proves this. But we will see what Tony’s response is… This would give him an opportunity to shed some light on this and dicipate any fears that have been floating around.
“Busseri’s software is supposed to let federal workers telecommute securely using ordinary computers and mobile devices, not just specially lobotomized ones.” That approach makes another cybersecurity expert nervous. “The most important thing is you don’t have mixed devices” used for both work and personal purposes, said Eric Friedberg, a former assistant US attorney specializing in cybercrime who now heads up a security consulting firm, Stroz-Friedberg. “People start browsing to the wrong things and infecting the machine with malware,” he said. “When you dial into the corporate system, the bad guys piggyback on that connection.”
And this is where Tony Busseri corrects Friedberg and says this is when Route1 inc mobiKEY restricts the piggybacking from going back into the corporate system.
May 18, 2012 at 9:35 am
In answer to your question, NO.