SGS patents cybersecure connectivity device

MEQUON, Wis.—Secure Global Solutions, a provider of central station technologies like its Stages platform, has patented its Network Navigator, an easy-install device ensuring a secure connection for communications.

The device encrypts data sent through it, Lisa Pettay, chief strategy officer for SGS, told Security Systems News. After being set up, users “have this secure communication tunnel that ensures that whatever is being sent over it has not been tampered with … and can trust the integrity of the signal from one end to the other.”

It also reduces set-up time, she said. “What the Network Navigator does, is it basically installs immediately and creates a virtual IP addressing communication, so, regardless of how those networks are set up the Network Navigator has the ability to install on it.”

The device is set up to automatically link to its destination after being plugged in. This “plug-and-play” capability also makes it stands out, Pettay said. “We have one client that's said 'what used to take our team 20 to 40 hours to set up, now takes minutes'—that's huge.”

“The ability to be set up on disparate networks … is a huge differentiator and one of the reasons the patent was awarded,” she said.

Data travels through the device only in one way, “a hacker can't get back into the network—it only goes one way,” she said.

Pettay said that ensuring both the integrity of communications and that the information hasn't been altered is a problem that the industry should be more worried about.

The Network Navigator is very scalable, she said. “You could bring up one site- 10 sites- 100 sites all very easily, without having to have tons of people to make it work.”

Pettay said the solution is primarily for commercial applications.“It's the small business that this makes a whole lot of sense for, it's the apartment buildings. It could be the home—and it will be the home—it's just that … the industry's got to catch up a little bit.”