@stake
Encyclopedia
ATstake, Inc. was a computer security
professional services company in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, United States
. It was founded in 1999 by Battery Ventures
(Tom Crotty, Sunil Dhaliwal, and Scott Tobin) and Ted Julian. Its initial core team of technologists included Dan Geer
(Chief Technical Officer) and the east coast security team from Cambridge Technology Partners (including Dave Goldsmith). In January 2000, @stake acquired L0pht Heavy Industries
(who were known for their many hacker
employees), bringing on Mudge as its Vice President of Research and Development. Its domain name
was atstake.com. In July 2000, @stake acquired Cerberus Information Security Limited of London, England, from David and Mark Litchfield and Robert Stein-Rostaing, to be their launchpad into Europe, the Middle East and Africa. @stake was subsequently acquired by Symantec
in 2004.
In addition to Dan Geer and Mudge, @stake employed many famous security experts including Dildog
, David Litchfield
, Mark Kriegsman
, Mike Schiffman, and Chris Wysopal
.
In September 2000, an @stake recruiter contacted Mark Abene
to recruit him for a security consultant position. The recruiter was apparently unaware of his past felony conviction since @stake had a policy of not hiring convicted hackers. Mark was informed by a company representative that @stake could not hire him, saying: "We ran a background check." This caused some debate regarding the role of convicted hackers working in the security business.
@stake was primarily a consulting
company, but also offered information security training through the @stake academy, and created a number of software security tools: LC 5 was a password auditing and recovery tool also known as L0phtCrack
; WebProxy was a security testing tool for Web applications; SmartRisk Analyzer was an application security analysis tool. Symantec later stopped selling LC5 to new customers citing US Government export regulations, and discontinued support in December 2006. In January 2009, L0phtCrack was acquired by the original authors from Symantec; L0phtCrack 6 was announced at the SOURCE Boston Conference on March 11, 2009. The technology underlying SmartRisk Analyzer was extended, and eventually brought to market by the Symantec spinoff Veracode
.
Symantec announced its acquisition of @stake on September 16, 2004 and completed the transaction on October 9, 2004.
Several members of @Stake left to form the computer security company "iSec Partners" in 2004. Former @stake academy instructors Rob Cheyne and Paul Hinkle later formed the information security training company "Safelight Security Advisors" in 2007. The remaining portion of the @Stake consulting group continues to operate as the "Security Advisory Services" team within Symantec's Security Business Practice.
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
professional services company in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was founded in 1999 by Battery Ventures
Battery Ventures
Battery Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests principally in technology markets including: Internet & Digital Media; Financial & Information Services; Cleantech; Software; Semiconductors & Components; Infrastructure Technologies; Communication Services; and Industrial Technologies.The...
(Tom Crotty, Sunil Dhaliwal, and Scott Tobin) and Ted Julian. Its initial core team of technologists included Dan Geer
Dan Geer
Dan Geer is a computer security analyst and risk management specialist. He is recognized for raising awareness of critical computer and network security issues before the risks were widely understood, and for ground-breaking work on the economics of security....
(Chief Technical Officer) and the east coast security team from Cambridge Technology Partners (including Dave Goldsmith). In January 2000, @stake acquired L0pht Heavy Industries
L0pht
L0pht Heavy Industries was a hacker collective active between 1992 and 2000 and located in the Boston, Massachusetts area.-Name:The second character in its name was originally a slashed zero, a symbol used by old teletypewriters and some character mode operating systems to mean zero...
(who were known for their many hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
employees), bringing on Mudge as its Vice President of Research and Development. Its domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
was atstake.com. In July 2000, @stake acquired Cerberus Information Security Limited of London, England, from David and Mark Litchfield and Robert Stein-Rostaing, to be their launchpad into Europe, the Middle East and Africa. @stake was subsequently acquired by Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
in 2004.
In addition to Dan Geer and Mudge, @stake employed many famous security experts including Dildog
Dildog
Christien Rioux, also known by his handle DilDog, is the co-founder and chief scientist for the Burlington, Massachusetts based company Veracode, for which he is the main patent holder....
, David Litchfield
David Litchfield
David Litchfield is a renowned security expert from the United Kingdom, who focuses on the discovery and publication of computer security vulnerabilities with a special focus on database server software...
, Mark Kriegsman
Mark Kriegsman
Mark Edwin Kriegsman is an American entrepreneur, computer programmer, inventor, writer, and Director of Engineering at Veracode. He lives in Arlington, MA along with his daughter, Eleanor, born in 2002....
, Mike Schiffman, and Chris Wysopal
Weld Pond
Chris Wysopal is a computer security expert and CTO of Veracode. He was a member of the high profile hacker think tank the L0pht where he was a vulnerability researcher....
.
In September 2000, an @stake recruiter contacted Mark Abene
Mark Abene
Mark Abene , better known by his pseudonym Phiber Optik, is a computer security hacker from New York City. Phiber Optik was once a member of the hacker groups Legion of Doom and Masters of Deception....
to recruit him for a security consultant position. The recruiter was apparently unaware of his past felony conviction since @stake had a policy of not hiring convicted hackers. Mark was informed by a company representative that @stake could not hire him, saying: "We ran a background check." This caused some debate regarding the role of convicted hackers working in the security business.
@stake was primarily a consulting
Information technology consulting
Information technology consulting is a field that focuses on advising businesses on how best to use information technology to meet their business objectives...
company, but also offered information security training through the @stake academy, and created a number of software security tools: LC 5 was a password auditing and recovery tool also known as L0phtCrack
L0phtCrack
L0phtCrack is a password auditing and recovery application originally produced by Mudge from L0pht Heavy Industries. It is used to test password strength and sometimes to recover lost Microsoft Windows passwords, by using dictionary, brute-force, hybrid attacks, and rainbow tables...
; WebProxy was a security testing tool for Web applications; SmartRisk Analyzer was an application security analysis tool. Symantec later stopped selling LC5 to new customers citing US Government export regulations, and discontinued support in December 2006. In January 2009, L0phtCrack was acquired by the original authors from Symantec; L0phtCrack 6 was announced at the SOURCE Boston Conference on March 11, 2009. The technology underlying SmartRisk Analyzer was extended, and eventually brought to market by the Symantec spinoff Veracode
Veracode
Veracode is a Burlington, Massachusetts-based application security company offering a cloud-based platform for application risk management. Veracode was founded in 2006 by a team of application security practitioners from @stake, Guardent, Symantec, and VeriSign to provide an automated third party...
.
Symantec announced its acquisition of @stake on September 16, 2004 and completed the transaction on October 9, 2004.
Several members of @Stake left to form the computer security company "iSec Partners" in 2004. Former @stake academy instructors Rob Cheyne and Paul Hinkle later formed the information security training company "Safelight Security Advisors" in 2007. The remaining portion of the @Stake consulting group continues to operate as the "Security Advisory Services" team within Symantec's Security Business Practice.
External links
- Company website now redirects to Symantec