A Message From the CEO
Perhaps it was the first time in the history of American business, we ran a national campaign for job applicants. Before we hit the throttle on our ad buy, our dev team created a special application review tool that automated the process of reviewing job applications. Thousands of applicants submitted resumes and cover letters for our fast growing work-at-home company.
Based on this extraordinary experience, I now believe in our “Made in America” message more than ever. The energy, talent, enthusiasm and the sheer number of applicants was overwhelming and humbling. We will never need to outsource any part of our operations outside of the country. All the talent, passion and enthusiasm we need for a successful business is right here in the USA.
This quarter we launched a new initiative called the Infinite Alert Block. There is a hoax where a web site gets infected, and when a user navigates to that web site, they are barraged with endless dialog boxes. The user cannot navigate to another tab, or close the browser. It appears as if the browser is locked. The messages warn of virus infections, lost data, privacy and pornography. The warnings have an 800 number to “fix” the problem. The 800 numbers lead one to an Indian call center, where they gain control of the user’s system, and charge between $400 – $600 to “fix” the problem. In the last quarter, customer service reported that this issue was quickly rising with our customer base.
We developed a technology to detect and block the Infinite Alert dialog boxes. Our wonderful, loyal customers were now safe. I then realized that no other company has this technology. We can create versions for Mac, Android, and Linux and monetize our technology. After all, this is a real problem and we have the only viable solution.
But, there is another way to address this problem. The flaw in the Infinite Alert business model is that they are using an 800 number that only the intended victims are to see. Our technology not only blocks the Infinite Alert but also saves the 800 numbers. Our plan is to publicize the telephone numbers of the hoax. Millions of people can call these numbers and it will inundate their phone queues so they won’t have time to hit their intended victims. The business behind the Infinite Alert will become insolvent.
There you have it. We can monetize the solution to the problem or we can just fix it. This is a new direction for our company. Our goal is to fix security problems first and revenue will follow. Take ransomware which is headed toward epidemic proportions. We do not want to treat the problem or its symptoms. Just like with the Infinite Alert hoax, we want the business of ransomware to become insolvent. We need to get our detection rates high enough to drive their revenue down.
It does not end there. As the Equifax hack shows, it is scarily easy to gain access to critical information from any business or government agency. There are software solutions to these type of problems. As we grow, we will invest in these technologies to solve the problem of unauthorized access to digital assets. One day, I believe that there will be no more business of ransomware or hacking. Our focus will remain on solving these problems until they are gone.
By the way. We received notification from the US Patent Office that we have patent pending for our whitelist technology.
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