Silicon:Safe has developed Password Protect, an Ethernet-connected hardware appliance that stores user IDs and passwords and only answers yes/no queries so the actual password data never leaves the device. The box runs proprietary bare-metal firmware with hardware TCP chips and no operating system to reduce attack surface; the company says third-party penetration testers were unable to extract data. Silicon:Safe has filed patents in the UK, US and internationally and is trialing the system with four beta customers—a U.K. high street retail bank, a telecoms organization, a pension company and a financial investments organization. Password Protect is due to launch in April and one unit is likely to cost around £100,000, with customers typically needing two units minimum and possibly up to four for replication/multi-datacenter setups. The company raised $1 million in seed funding from private investors to fund development. Founded in late 2013, the team includes co-founder and product designer Dr. Will Harwood and co-founder Roger Gross, with Nick Lowe as CEO. Silicon:Safe plans future products to protect credit card transaction data and large-scale biometric databases and intends to offer a SaaS-style option to make the technology accessible to smaller businesses.

Total raised

$1M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Jan 2016