Mjcpr
4/20/2007, 08:09 AM
A Tulsa company thinks so. Never heard of this before...what do you techies think of the idea?
SAN FRANCISCO -- Vidoop, a Tulsa-based tech company, unveiled Tuesday an innovative new way to log onto Web sites that replaces unchanging passwords with a picture-based interface.
Luke Sontag, president of Vidoop, told the assembled tech company developers and representatives at the Web 2.0 Expo here that Vidoop's Dynamic Image Grid provides a much higher level of security sorely needed for most Web sites.
"It's time to secure the Wild West of the Internet, and your friends in the Silicon Prairie are circling the wagons," he said.
Continuing the Wild West metaphor, Sontag said most sites are like old-style safes that could be opened by blasting off the hinges. Vidoop was compared to bolt-action safes that remain shut even after the hinges are destroyed.
Instead of a static password that can be stolen by malicious key-logging programs that record keystrokes and send them to online thieves, Vidoop users prove their identities by choosing categories and finding pictures that match them.
"You need a human brain to process the information, so it cuts out all automated hacking," he said.
Sontag said the process is technically complex yet intuitive.
"It's easy on me -- I just find the boat and the airplane (images)," he said while demonstrating the process.
The program also authenticates computers used by Vidoop users and only generates the image grid on approved computers during log-in attempts.
Vidoop intends to license the technology to Web sites, particularly those for financial institutions. Sontag said a Fortune 500 company intends to replace its log-in system with Vidoop's by July, though he declined to reveal the name of the business.
The company is also finalizing a free log-in portal that will allow users to log in once to hundreds of sites that use Open ID.
Vidoop currently employs 20, though company CEO Joel Norvell said the company could grow to 100 within a year based on the popularity of the product.
Sontag and Norvell, both Tulsa residents, said they met during Norvell's yoga classes, and eventually decided to form a net-based company that could provide a needed benefit.
"Security is the biggest pain point for most Web sites," Norvell said. "Logging in is the weakest link in the chain."
Starting two years ago, the two recruited a number of experienced designers, including Scott Blomquist, former lead developer for Microsoft's Windows multimedia search team, and others from the Naval Research Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Norvell said it was surprisingly easy to convince people to move from areas known for technological development to Tulsa.
"Developers are a very mobile population, and when they heard what were doing, they wanted to move here," he said.
Norvell said the programmers quickly hit upon the image grid idea during brainstorming sessions, and spent the last two years perfecting it and conducting secret tests with volunteers in Vidoop's headquarters in the Bank of America building in downtown Tulsa.
Tuesday's unveiling coincided with the official launch of the company's Web site, www.vidoop.com (http://www.vidoop.com/), and its Open ID portal, www.myvidoop.com (http://www.myvidoop.com/).
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?articleID=070418_238_E1_hTuls34656&breadcrumb=Article%20Search
SAN FRANCISCO -- Vidoop, a Tulsa-based tech company, unveiled Tuesday an innovative new way to log onto Web sites that replaces unchanging passwords with a picture-based interface.
Luke Sontag, president of Vidoop, told the assembled tech company developers and representatives at the Web 2.0 Expo here that Vidoop's Dynamic Image Grid provides a much higher level of security sorely needed for most Web sites.
"It's time to secure the Wild West of the Internet, and your friends in the Silicon Prairie are circling the wagons," he said.
Continuing the Wild West metaphor, Sontag said most sites are like old-style safes that could be opened by blasting off the hinges. Vidoop was compared to bolt-action safes that remain shut even after the hinges are destroyed.
Instead of a static password that can be stolen by malicious key-logging programs that record keystrokes and send them to online thieves, Vidoop users prove their identities by choosing categories and finding pictures that match them.
"You need a human brain to process the information, so it cuts out all automated hacking," he said.
Sontag said the process is technically complex yet intuitive.
"It's easy on me -- I just find the boat and the airplane (images)," he said while demonstrating the process.
The program also authenticates computers used by Vidoop users and only generates the image grid on approved computers during log-in attempts.
Vidoop intends to license the technology to Web sites, particularly those for financial institutions. Sontag said a Fortune 500 company intends to replace its log-in system with Vidoop's by July, though he declined to reveal the name of the business.
The company is also finalizing a free log-in portal that will allow users to log in once to hundreds of sites that use Open ID.
Vidoop currently employs 20, though company CEO Joel Norvell said the company could grow to 100 within a year based on the popularity of the product.
Sontag and Norvell, both Tulsa residents, said they met during Norvell's yoga classes, and eventually decided to form a net-based company that could provide a needed benefit.
"Security is the biggest pain point for most Web sites," Norvell said. "Logging in is the weakest link in the chain."
Starting two years ago, the two recruited a number of experienced designers, including Scott Blomquist, former lead developer for Microsoft's Windows multimedia search team, and others from the Naval Research Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Norvell said it was surprisingly easy to convince people to move from areas known for technological development to Tulsa.
"Developers are a very mobile population, and when they heard what were doing, they wanted to move here," he said.
Norvell said the programmers quickly hit upon the image grid idea during brainstorming sessions, and spent the last two years perfecting it and conducting secret tests with volunteers in Vidoop's headquarters in the Bank of America building in downtown Tulsa.
Tuesday's unveiling coincided with the official launch of the company's Web site, www.vidoop.com (http://www.vidoop.com/), and its Open ID portal, www.myvidoop.com (http://www.myvidoop.com/).
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?articleID=070418_238_E1_hTuls34656&breadcrumb=Article%20Search