https://venturebeat.com/security/how-a-tiny-canadian-company-won-security-contracts-with-covert-3-letter-agencies-like-the-nsa-cia-and-fbi/
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How does a small Canadian company get a contract to provide security software for top U.S. covert agencies like the NSA, CIA, and FBI?
Actually, it’s not that difficult, according to mobile security company Fixmo’s CEO, Rick Segal.
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“Despite the Bush years of let’s go play in another war, there’s a very tight, close alliance between Canada and the USA,” Segal says.
He can get away with saying that sort of thing more than most Canadians, because the CEO of this Toronto-based startup is a ex-patriate American who has spent the last 15 years in Canada. He’s building his business in Ontario because, he says, of the tax credits for high-tech companies, the influx of talent from the most-populous Canadian province’s 50+ universities, and the ability of Canadian governmental agencies to give him personalized attention in his efforts to break into new markets.
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Such as sponsoring him to attend expensive international conferences like the one where he met “some NSA folks.”
Fixmo makes mobile security products that allow organizations to safely offer BYOD (bring your own device) policies that don’t imperil sensitive data and networks. The company, which had just three employees just a few years ago, offers an encrypted sandbox, digital fingerprint technology that can detect tampering to your mobile operating system, and compliance breaches like the installing of unauthorized apps on both iOS and Android. Built with 256-bit encryption, two-factor authentication, and remote wipe capability, Fixmo’s products are sold largely to governments.
And, interestingly, they’re built on software originally developed by the NSA.
“The US government and security agencies tend to view Canada as one of its own,” Segal says. “Eyebrows don’t get raised when a Canadian company does business with NSA … there’s no ‘it’s a foreign country’ kind of thing going on.”