Duke University Launches Cybersecurity Company, Forewarned, Inc.
Durham, N.C., May 2, 2022 – Duke University announces a new cybersecurity technology spin-out, Forewarned, Inc., based on the successful STINGAR platform developed at Duke’s Information Technology Security Office.
The new company, Forewarned Inc., has been granted an exclusive license to the STINGAR software technology and patents. The company plans to continue developing the STINGAR technology and promote it to a broader set of customers in education, research, and beyond.
“In 2021, Duke decided it was the right time to expand the availability of the platform and spin out the new company, Forewarned, Inc.,” said Robin Rasor, Associate VP, Duke Office for Translation and Commercialization. “The goal is to promote the platform and bring it to a broader set of customers so more entities, not just academic institutions, could benefit from sharing real-time threat information and greater network security.”
STINGAR Platform
The STINGAR (Shared Threat Intelligence, Network Gatekeeper, Automated Response) platform was originally developed by Duke’s Information Technology Security Office as part of its overall IT security strategy to address malicious cyber-attacks seen inside its network.
STINGAR automatically detects and blocks cyber-attacks as they happen, in real-time, thus removing threats from the network and reducing work for the security incident response teams. STINGAR increases the blocking capabilities by two orders of magnitude from malicious connection attempts. In addition, the platform also shares cyber threat intelligence with its community of trusted users to make everyone aware of the active cyber threats and become better prepared against attacks.
“STINGAR began life as an internal project inside Duke’s IT security operations team to address the lack of commercial offerings in this space,” said Tracy Futhey, Vice President and CTO of Duke Office of Information Technology. “It has grown to become a widely adopted security automation tool in use across the country at higher education campuses, government research establishments and security operations centers. I am delighted to see the completion of this effort with the launch of this new company. I encourage all members of the higher education community to consider the benefits of STINGAR for the protection of their campus networks.”
“We have recently begun the transition of our existing partners to the latest version of the STINGAR platform, which represents a major upgrade culminating two years of development work,” said Hugh Thomas, Forewarned, Inc. CEO. “We look forward to welcoming new partners to the STINGAR community over the coming months and years.”
About Forewarned
Forewarned Inc. is a C-corporation headquartered in Chapel Hill, NC. The company was founded in 2021 by a team of IT professionals from Duke University’s Office of Information Technology, who bring a deep technical background of networking and enterprise security expertise and a shared vision for creating a safer online environment using STINGAR to improve the safety of all users.
For more information about Forewarned and the STINGAR platform, please visit https://forewarned.io or email: info@forewarned.io