Tom Goodman, VP, Bluefire Security Technologies

It may take a village for some things, but it only takes one device to compromise a network. So says Tom Goodman, lifetime infosec expert now running business development and operations for Bluefire Security Technologies. Formed at the start of 2001, Bluefire sells its Mobile Firewall Plus security software for handheld devices — primarily the Pocket PC today, Palms and other devices tomorrow — to enterprises, government agencies and telcos and backs it up with the complete package: training, installation, support and consulting.

Goodman admits the private sector security industry can be a bit of a self-licking lollipop — the more vulnerabilities, the better — but not for everyone. For him and for Bluefire, security is serious business. “Our CTO himself (Charles Komisky) started out building battlefield communications systems; one of those nodes falls off the network, you've got problems,” Goodman said. “That's sort of the origin of our solution — sustainable security solutions for mobile devices.”

Military-bred, but living proof that the sword-to-ploughshare philosophy extends to people as well as technology, Goodman started in radio copying Morse code, then moved into security and spent time in the Saudi desert. He eased into civilian life through the Defense Department, then jumped into the deep end with Diamond Comic Distributors. No, not a “Beetle Bailey” fan — infosec was still his game. “Been in information security my whole career,” Goodman said.

But why the eye toward handhelds? “All those wonderful things manufacturers are building into them to address the needs of the mobile worker…well, unfortunately, there is no security around them, so these capabilities become vulnerabilities,” Goodman said. With its patented compression technology, Bluefire provides firewall, intrusion prevention, integrity monitoring and data encryption, all within the finite resources of the PDA. “We help extend your corporate or agency security policies and processes all the way out to this new boundary on your network: the handheld device,” he said.

And the need for security is everywhere, Goodman said. “Even in comics.”