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HackerFest highlights new cybersecurity technologies

Cybersecurity and technology companies have converged on upstate New York for the HackerFest technology trade show this week. And new technologies are emerging to step up security and pre-empt the strategies of cyber criminals.

Grant Asplund, of the technology security company Blue Coat Systems says cyber criminals are prolific, well-funded, and very good at what they do -- and traditional defenses are no longer enough.

He says cyber crime will remain a constant threat because it also generates high returns.

Blue Coat Systems has developed a product called "negative-day defense," that uses information from more than 75 million users worldwide to predict and block attacks before they enter a network.

"It's very, very beneficial. The traditional zero-day defense is kind of like whack-a-mole, and it's unsuccessful. So it calls for a new way to protect users, and that's what negative-day defense does," Asplund said.

Blue Coat is currently monitoring 1,500 of what they call "malware networks," infected networks woven into the fabric of the Internet.

Asplund says this surveillance gives the Blue Coat Systems a unique ability to block attacks before they happen.

The HackerFest trade show is being held in Rochester this week.

WXXI/Finger Lakes Reporter for the Innovation Trail