Cost-effective way to improve password security while making employees more productive

Siber Systems released RoboForm in 1999 and the product has since then been translated into over 30 different languages and has millions of active users worldwide. Siber Systems was originally founded to turn scientific findings in the area of text parsing, compilation and transformation into useful commercial technologies. The company's CobolTransformer was released in 1997 and is licensed by Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, as well as Computer Associates and Fujitsu Software. Our Cobol Data Viewer, a premier product used to recover data from Cobol data files, was released in 1998 and is licensed by hundreds of companies and continues to be actively licensed today. In 2004 Siber Systems developed RoboForm2Go, one of the first applications designed to run natively from USB flash drives. Until that time USB flash drives were mostly considered "dumb storage" devices. RoboForm2Go, a portable version of RoboForm allows users to take their passwords with them. Simply plug a USB flash drive into any computer, anywhere in the world and enjoy all the conveniences of RoboForm.

Name: Bill Carey
Age:38
Position: VP of Marketing and Business Development
Previous jobs: Co-founder and COO of Sandbox.com, Senior Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Education:  BBA Accounting, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Family: Married to wife Kelly.  Two children, Will and Brianna
Residence: Leesburg, Virginia
Other interests: Golf, Outdoor Activities

In the following interview, Bill Carey, VP of Marketing and Business Development - Siber Systems discusses 1:1 with Rake Narang, Editor-n-chief of Network Products Guide, cost-effective way to improve password security while making employees more productive

Rake Narang, Editor-n-Chief - Network Products Guide: How has enterprise password management evolved over the years?

Bill Carey, VP of Marketing and Business Development - Siber Systems: As companies become larger and more global, there is more demand for employee online or direct access to corporate data and systems.  In order for companies to protect their data and systems they implement password policies that require employees to use additional and significantly more complicated passwords. 

Requiring additional passwords creates problems as employees can not remember multiple passwords, particularly strong, complicated passwords.  Therefore users take common short cuts with their passwords such as using the same password to access every system or writing their passwords down in insecure locations (i.e. the old yellow sticky note problem).  Thus making corporate systems less secure instead of more secure. 

When users do use strong passwords, or are requested to change them often, it is inevitable that they will forget them.  As a result help desks constantly field requests for password retrieves and resets, causing a waste of time and resources that could be devoted to solving other problems, not to mention increased user frustration and low employee morale.

So enterprise password management has not only become more complicated, but even more important for companies.  In a recent study of 617 IT professionals Siber Systems found that 48% of responding IT professionals are actively seeking a reliable password management solution.

Rake Narang: What are the latest products and services provided by your company? How does RoboForm Enterprise differ from Single Sign-On (SSO) programs?

Bill Carey: There are many companies focused on the concept of Single Sign-On (SSO) to address this problem.  The theory behind SSO is employees can remember one strong password which would allow access to all corporate data and systems. However, many companies struggle with SSO as SSO is often very expensive, complicated, and requires months, if not years to implement. 

RoboForm Enterprise is an advanced, full-featured alternative to SSO.  It’s the easiest and most cost-effective way to improve password security while making employees more productive.

RoboForm Enterprise reduces employees’ passwords to one secure password and provides true automated logins (a better Single Sign-On).  It allows companies to continue to require multiple strong passwords to different systems, but RoboForm Enterprise will automatically remember the passwords and log employees into these systems.

Implementing RoboForm decreases IT costs, increases employee productivity, and improves employee morale.  Unlike other Enterprise Single Sign-on solutions, RoboForm is:

• Easy to implement – It’s installed directly to employee computers so there isn’t any large and complicated systems integration effort.  RoboForm can be mass deployed within hours.
• Completely customizable – It comes with a “Policy Editor” that allows the IT Manager to completely customize RoboForm to meet their specific corporate security standards.
• Comes with a risk-free trial – A company can try RoboForm before they buy it, so there’s no risk at all.

Rake Narang: Will the security vendors always be playing a catch-up game with hackers and attackers? How do you see the security products evolving 2-3 years from today?

Bill Carey: Hackers are not going anywhere anytime soon.  There will always be people out there trying to see if they are bigger, better and brighter than other software programmers.  It’s the nature of the beast.

But security software is getting a lot more sophisticated and I think we’re already started to see where security software is headed over the next few years.  I believe security vendors will try to sell more packaged solutions or bundles.  In other words, instead of offering firewall software, or spam filtering, or anti-spyware, companies will continue to develop and focus on selling security suites.

We believe password management should be a part of those security suites, thus building in the option to increase employee password security as well as these other security features. 

Rake Narang: How is your company focusing on 2008 growth? As an executive leader, what steps have you taken that have had a positive impact on your company?

Bill Carey: For 2008 we’re primarily focused on growth in RoboForm Enterprise and our new product GoodSync.  

As such I have effectively positioned our marketing team to focus on and look for opportunities in these areas.  We have launched new Enterprise marketing campaigns, increased our public relations efforts and entered into strategic business development deals designed to drive revenue and awareness of our products.

All About Siber Systems
Head Office Address: Siber Systems, Inc. 11781 Lee Jackson Highway, Suite 260 Fairfax, VA 22033
Founded in: 1995
CEO: Vadim Maslov
Public or Private: Private
Investors: None
Number of Employees: 25
Products: RoboForm (Including RoboForm Enterprise and RoboForm2Go, GoodSync)
Company’s Goals: Our mission is to create world class innovative software products designed to make using a computer easier, faster, and more secure for individuals and enterprises around the world.
Recent Awards Won: PC Magazine Editor’s Choice, PC World’s “25 Products We Can't Live Without”