http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/060800soviet-hacker.html June 8, 2000 Ex-Soviet Spy Takes on Internet Mission in U.S., Using Old Skills By JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON, June 7 -- In 1980, Victor Sheymov was a Soviet man in a hurry. [...] Now, 20 years later, Victor Sheymov is again a man in a hurry, but this time to cash in on the Internet gold rush of his adopted capitalist country. He has teamed up with American cold-war veterans from the security agency to put their old cyberspy skills to use in the new world of Silicon startups. Mr. Sheymov has struck out on his own to develop a new computer security system that he contends could make computer networks nearly impervious to penetration by outside hackers. He has brought in computer experts from the security agency and elsewhere to help design the new system, and has persuaded a former director of central intelligence, R. James Woolsey, to join his new company's board. Mr. Sheymov developed a new algorithm, on which he has a patent pending, after accepting a challenge from a cybersecurity expert in the federal government. ''I was kidding him, saying, 'I can't believe you guys can't stop these kids from breaking in,' '' Mr. Sheymov recalled. ''So he said, 'If you're so smart, why don't you do it.' That got me thinking.'' His software is still at least six months away from the market. But the spy-versus-spy backdrop to Mr. Sheymov's new company, Invicta Networks of Laurel, Md., is certain to provide a compelling storyline that will help it attract the kind of attention that other computer startups would kill for. The story behind Mr. Sheymov's company also provides a glimpse into the shadowy role the National Security Agency plays in computer security and professional hacking, and underscores its potential as an incubator for startups in the booming computer security industry. One of the secrets of the security agency, which is in Fort Meade, Md., not far from Mr. Sheymov's Laurel offices, had been that it employs professional hackers who try to break into the computer networks of foreign governments, terrorists and international drug cartels. It also employs computer security experts who try to stay one step ahead of hackers to protect government computer systems. Mr. Woolsey notes that cybersecurity and computer hacking are two subsets of the computer world where the government -- and the security agency, in particular -- have long been ahead of private industry. Now, with viruses, e-mail ''spamming'' and hacking all emerging as major national headaches and as national security threats, at least a few veterans of the security agency are moving into the private sector, holding out the possibility that the Maryland region around Fort Meade could soon be transformed into a new hotbed of the cybersecurity industry. In fact, when Mr. Sheymov sought to test his computer security system against the best hackers he could find, he turned to another company staffed with security agency veterans, Netsafe Inc. of Annapolis, Md., which conducts ''ethical hacking'' to help companies determine the security of their computer networks. Netsafe's hacking team tried unsuccessfully to break into Mr. Sheymov's system. ''We tried and couldn't get into it,'' said Joe Patanella, the president of Netsafe, an 18-year veteran of the National Security Agency. Mr. Patanella cautioned that Netsafe's test of Mr. Sheymov's system was not a real-world exercise, because his software had not been installed on a live corporate computer system. But he came away impressed. Mr. Patanella said, ''It certainly has good access control capability,'' which is computerese meaning that Mr. Sheymov's system was hard to breach. [...] ------------------------------------------------ krys, you live on in our memories your life's promise merged with our own dreams but when we heard you died we cried no one could answer the question, "why?" -- jeradonah, Oct 30 '99 HotBot - Search smarter. http://www.hotbot.com
