Hacking Network Security Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Postquantum Security Credentials Authentication Phishing Technology Innovation

Stop Compromising Security for Convenience

John Ellingson
John Ellingson
person typing on a laptop

Until now, designing for convenience and security was a zero-sum game. Increasing convenience meant decreasing security. Think of websites that allow users to use weak passwords -- it may be easy for the user to remember PASSWORD123, but the same feature results in a serious vulnerability. QWERX has changed the rules. Now both convenience and security can coexist without risk.

At QWERX, we designed our innovative machine authentication protocol with the understanding that hackers are users, too. When it is easy for legitimate users to use the system, it is also easy for the hackers to enter. One of the most common ways that hackers access a network is by stealing or copying the static certificate on a user's device that tells the network that device is allowed to enter. Users may not be aware of it, but they are tasked with safeguarding this certificate. Just one enterprise user  who fails to practice continuous cyber hygiene can open the door to a massive network breach.

Our founders were determined to eliminate this human vulnerability factor by designing a machine authentication protocol that does not rely on users to keep it secure. The solution eliminates the asset that can be stolen (the static credential), so there is nothing for user to protect. Convenience and ease of use is restored, while unassailable network security is maintained.

When the QWERX Enterprise Secure Perimeter (QESP) is deployed, humans can log into human things, but not digital things. Digital components authenticate to each other dynamically with credentials that are complex, chaotic, change every few seconds or even multiple times a second, are never exchanged or stored and cannot be calculated--even with a quantum computer.

QWERX machine identity authentication does not require humans to protect their device's static certificate, so there is nothing for an attacker to get from targeting a human user—no more phishing. Humans can keep their convenience, because they have been removed from the digital security system and cannot compromise it.
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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