Startup Finding Illicit Files

Key Cybersecurity’s CyberMerlin software has been going through beta testing for the last few months, and the illicit file detection system has already helped police track down two missing Fairfax County teens. It's also been accepted into the Dell Solution Center and will soon be part of a major distribution announcement. Also, the Dumfries, Va.-based company will be on display at Bisnow’s Prince William County: Harnessing Innovation event tomorrow. (Sign up here.) Founder Shawn Key, who launched the company last year through the MACH37 cybersecurity accelerator, says the software proactively detects illicit files like child porn and terrorist activity that inconspicuously sit on corporate networks. It also monitors IP and prevents corporate espionage. 

Key Cybersecurity won NVTC's Destination Innovation award this year. Shawn, a father of three, says he gets requests regularly from families for help finding their missing children and he tries to fulfill most of them. Eventually the company will release a version of CyberMerlin for consumers on smartphones, tablets, and PCs, but first it’s releasing the enterprise version later this year. Most companies and federal agencies don’t realize they could have illicit files sitting on their networks. They often come from employees bringing their own devices to work or hackers who use corporate networks to store and sell the illicit files. Shawn says the software also helps companies stay in compliance.