WHO WE ARE

TecSec®, Incorporated, founded in 1990, is a privately held company located just outside of Washington, DC. Through a large library of patents and still growing intellectual property, TecSec provides (1) Information Assurance products for the network and desktop, (2) Information Management and Dynamic, Assured Information Sharing through cryptographically enforced Role Based Access Control (RBAC) and (3) CKM Enabled® Solutions, for example, for Digital Rights Management (e.g. secure distribution of Hollywood movies) and for Critical Infrastructure Protection (e.g. SCADA, Utilities).

TecSec’s information assurance business assumption is that network perimeter defenses (firewalls, anti-virus etc.) must be supplemented with the protection of network content. TecSec's products and solutions, using the company’s award-winning, standards based Constructive Key Management® (CKM®) technology, provide this assurance.

Through a primarily client-based 21st Century key management system, designed especially for the world of large networks and virtual networks, CKM brings Privacy and Confidentiality to message content, independent of the means of electronic transport. Accordingly, CKM technology has the potential to enhance the full range of likely digitized applications, including wireless and Voice Over IP (VOIP). CKM Enabled® solutions can be employed as software, firmware, hardware or in a combination of applications.

Desktop software is being given assignments in Homeland Security and related areas. As customer consciousness of security needs increase and through solutions that reinforce PKI and other network perimeter defenses, an efficient and robust CKM Enabled information assurance solution is available. TecSec’s offerings increase security, reduce administrative costs and provide scalability.

CKM technology is currently being employed as a solution for Critical Infrastructure Protection of SCADA systems—both for the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security. Further, TecSec is part of a team supporting the American Gas Association (AGA) and the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) in developing the AGA 12 Report—a recommended practice for Cryptographic Protection of SCADA communications.

TecSec is also part of the team recently awarded the US-Visit contract, which will provide an integrated, automated system to track pre-entry, entry, status management, and exit of visitors at air, land, and sea ports of entry. The system will enable authorized law enforcement and intelligence personnel to access entry and exit data, as well as reports and actions on foreign nationals who have overstayed their legal duration.

In the Defense sector, CKM has been a component for DCTS and JWIDS and is being submitted for Horizontal Fusion.
TecSec’s CKM technology is a standard for the network of the federal agency administering Medicare/Medicaid, CMS (Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services). Incoming and outgoing personal healthcare information (and stored data) that must meet the Privacy and Confidentiality requirements of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is becoming CKM protected.

Smart Tokens® that are CKM Enabled (either in the form of ISO 7816 smart cards or USB fobs) bring identification, authentication and authorization, plus access control to operating systems supporting diverse providers and accessed by diverse users – isolating each application. With this end-to-end security, the Token issuer as well as the application provider gain substantial protection through this liability risk management. In addition, the cardholder’s data, stored on the card, is given Privacy and Confidentiality.

About TecSec (PDF format)

TecSec's leadership personnel are:
John R. Petty, Chairman
Edward M. Scheidt, Founder & Chief Scientist
C. Jay Wack, Board Member responsible for New Market Segments

Ed Scheidt, Founder & Chief Scientist

Before founding TecSec in 1990, Ed held a variety of positions during his 26-year career at the US Central Intelligence Agency. He was Chairman of a Cryptographic Center at the CIA prior to retiring. Stemming from an operational background, Ed recognized the changing nature of communication patterns as PCs proliferated and were then formed into networks. Encryption that originated for primarily one-to-one communications faced new and substantially different key management requirements in large network or virtual network environments. ANSI X9.69 standard reflects this reality.

In forming TecSec and building the company's large IP library, he anticipated the flexibility and mobility required of 21st Century communication systems with a key management system that is primarily client-based and much less dependent upon a central server. The relative scalability achieved by this approach, together with encryption at the object level, provides enforced role based access and granularity not otherwise available. Ed remains deeply involved in the company's product development and expanding application solutions, just as he is in general management.

John Petty, Chairman

John commenced with TecSec in 1996 as investor and full-time business advisor. John's business experience began in the 1950s at Chase Bank. He served in the US Treasury for six years under both Presidents Johnson and Nixon, primarily as Assistant Secretary for International Affairs. In 1972, he joined Lehman Brothers as a partner and Director. From late 1976 until 1988 he was President or Chairman CEO of Marine Midland Bank, up to its 100% acquisition by HSBC.

Subsequently, he chaired the Inter-American Development Bank's High Level Review Committee, an international group, to advise on the development strategy of the Bank for the 1990s. Early in the 1990s, he formed the Federal National Services family of companies as well as the Czechoslovak American Enterprise Fund (venture capital). John became Chairman of TecSec in 1997. Since 1972 John has served or serves on public Boards of Directors, including RCA, NBC, HSBC, Hercules Inc., Himont, Inc., Equity Funding Inc., Anixter International and ARRIS.

Jay Wack, Board Member responsible for New Market Segments

Jay joined TecSec near the beginning, bringing 25 years of hardware design and sales experience. His early communications training included all the best practical experiences: the military, Intel, Motorola, National Semiconductor, Avnet. Today, his long commission salesman's road experience brings a focus on customer needs. He interrupted his work at TecSec in the mid 1990's for a 15-month stint with the Department of Defense as their technology consultant for the planning of the DoD's employment of smart cards in the years ahead.

Smart Tokens™ and other CKM Enabled™ integrated circuits provide broad opportunities for the application of TecSec's technology. Jay is particularly instrumental in expanding the embedded circuits, market segments. Dovetailing some CKM applications with PKI is another example of mutual product enhancements. More generally, his advisory role with associations such as NASCIO (National Association of State CIOs) exposes TecSec to the secure communication requirements of Homeland Security, including as it relates to state & local governments. As TecSec's Constructive Key Management products are transport infrastructure independent, they have special appeal in mobile and emergency environments.