Network Security Cybersecurity Zero Trust Technology

Cybersecurity Goals: Having Nothing to Hide

John Ellingson
John Ellingson
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We live in a world in which our adversaries know everything we know, and no one can keep a secret. Yet, computers operate as if that were not true. Current secure device authentication best practice recommends using strong credentials that are hard to crack and which should be changed every 30 days. Thirty days is the suggested time limit not because it delivers the best security, but because the existing credential management processes probably can't keep up with anything faster. 

In reality, "cracking" encrypted keys is an academic exercise. Hackers seeking lucrative data (and not an academic exercise) take the easier route: steal the keys and use them for access. A hack can be executed in a matter of seconds, while it could take centuries of computer time to decrypt a key.

The QWERX Enterprise Security Perimeter (QESP) platform is designed with the assumption that the adversary already has perfect knowledge of all existing security information. This means that QESP users are no longer engaging in a losing effort to build stronger walls around their precious keys; instead, their devices are continuously authenticated by rapidly rotating, ephemeral keys. The QWERX approach is to always be faster than the adversary. When the adversary gets the information that secured the QWERX-protected device, it is no longer useful and will never again be useful. In cyberspace, the fastest wins the race, and with QWERX, defense is faster than offense.

Because QWERX technology does not use algorithms, the latency that can slow a system is removed. We eliminate the vulnerability and risk of storing and exchanging keys and streamline operations by getting rid of certificate lifecycle management. With QWERX, stolen device credentials are a thing of the past; keys can be rotated as fast as multiple times a second, and QWERX-patented ephemeral keys disappear at once and are never reused. 

If you want to simplify your enterprise network security, lower your risk, and reallocate resources to more proactive security efforts, please reach out. We love to tell our story.
John Ellingson

John Ellingson

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John Ellingson is the Chief Technology Officer at QWERX. John started his digital career with the Boeing Company working on the 747 aircraft in the late 1960s. He became a computer-literate attorney performing what is today known as forensic accounting. As the founding chairman of the ABA/YLD Subcommittee on Tax Treatment in Bankruptcy, John worked with the Congressional Joint Tax Committee to create the Internal Revenue Code Provision enabling the tax-free merger and acquisition of debtor corporations. This law became part of the Bankruptcy Tax Act of 1980. John had a national M&A practice in this area and obtained the first IRS Private Letter Ruling on this Code section. As a result of this practice, he observed a frequent element of white-collar crime in many bankruptcy cases, and he subsequently developed and patented a method to detect identity fraud. The product derived from that patent is still deployed at most retail banks throughout the U.S. today. This success started John on a path of protecting digital systems and identity management. He continued in this role with American Operations Corporation and ASM Research before founding infOsci LLC and later QWERX, Inc. John holds numerous method patents in digital system security. John was appointed to the United States Air Force Academy and medically separated before graduation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Juris Doctor degree from Seattle University. For 20 years John served as a liaison officer with the United States Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy. He also served on the Service Academy Selection Boards for two U.S. Senators.

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