03/27/2018
The Buzz
By Bram Berkowitz
As many in today’s cybersecurity space know, phishing is an attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
It has become one of the biggest headaches in the financial services industry, particularly in the mobile security space, where a simple email can result in a breach that compromises customers’ personal information.
Hoping to alleviate this issue are University of Massachusetts Lowell students Gregory Montemurro and David Seybert with their startup True to You.
The company plans to resecure mobile technologies by using unique personal identifiers such as facial recognition, or biometrics, combined with in-house blockchain, and the cloud to eliminate the possibility of individual’s accounts being hacked.’
“The current cybersecurity solutions to prevent these attacks are lackluster at best,” Montemurro told The Buzz. “We wanted to do something that had an impact and made the livelihoods of others better, and alleviating some of the stressors in the era of technology definitely does that.”
In short, mobile apps that use True to You software will quickly scan a customer’s face, iris and retina.
These readings will then be converted into a series of encrypted numbers and then sent to the cloud, which will utilize an inhouse blockchain, and a customer’s account will only open if the three biometrics match the distributed ledger.
The company recently won the 2017 Digital Federal Credit Union Innovation Contest, which is hosted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell DifferenceMaker program, and awards each winning team member $500.
Although True to You does not currently have steady external funding, the company is in a self-sufficient, incubational stage, trying to grow its team, while simultaneously developing its first official prototype.
Seybert said the core revenue model is a software licensing model, which platforms the software as a service, instead of solely a product. It would allows the purchaser to have the rights to the software through a limited license.
Included in the initial set-up costs for clients is a guarantee for five years to update not only the software, but the hardware as well.
“We are not currently open to market with any software or licensing services,” said Seybert.
Both Montemurro and Seybert hope to develop the company’s first prototype within the next six to twelve months, and are currently working to accelerate the development of the software.
If interested in providing additional support on the technological infrastructure to help True to You achieve its goals with software licensing development, email Gregory_Montemurro@student.uml.edu or David_Seybert@student.uml.edu.