Network Security Credentials Authentication Zero Trust

Why Identity Matters

John Ellingson
John Ellingson
a child in a red jacket climbing a rope ladder

Imagine you are in elementary school. Your mother discovers your lunch bag sitting on the counter at home and walks to school to deliver it to you. You've been playing a game with your friends, where everyone swaps jackets and runs around the playground. When your mom arrives, does she hand your lunch to a different kid, who happens to be wearing your coat? No! There are many factors beyond outerwear involved in helping her accurately identify her own child.

Identity means selecting one and only one from among many nearly identical choices, even if there are obfuscating factors. The process of identity has become mission critical for both friend and foe. It is both the primary means of defense and attack in the cybersecurity domain. Identity also plays a crucial role in many biologic processes from genetics and reproduction to immunity. Identity is a core function, if not the core function, of information processing. 

We have arrived at a critical juncture in technology, trying to keep the corpse of our decades-old identity technology functioning on life support using patches and best practices. We are failing. We have gotten to the point of admitting that our identity protection schemes are going to be compromised and so our focus has shifted to detecting a compromise as soon as possible and containing the damage.

At QWERX, we are unwilling to accept this approach. We have created a simple and easy-to-deploy, non-disruptive solution that solves the device identity problem. Our solution, QWERX Enterprise Secure Perimeter (QESP), enables continuous verification of all connected devices in a manner that cannot be exploited by an attacker using a spoofed credential that "looks like" one that belongs on the network. Instead of static certificates that can be stolen or copied, QWERX technology relies on dynamic information inputs that force a positive identification -- just like how the school bully can't trick your mom into giving him your lunch by wearing your coat.
John Ellingson

John Ellingson

Follow me on LinkedIn Follow me on LinkedIn

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.

Leave a Comment