Rising Star of the Year-Private Sector: TraceSecurity Inc.

Louisiana Technology Guide

In the first six months of 2004, two of the most powerful technology companies in the world, Microsoft and Cisco, were hacked, jeopardizing the operation of servers and routers, company networks around the globe, and even the integrity of the Internet itself.

"The reality is hacking is not very difficult," says Pete Stewart, CEO of TraceSecurity. "Right now, there are around 100 new 'hacks' coming out every week, so even with complex security infrastructures like firewalls and anti-virus software, networks are commonly compromised by cybercriminals or cyberterrorists."

The enormous risks presented by hacking, cybercrime and cyberterror-and the dramatic speed at which they evolve-has given rise to a whole new industry in the digital age: vulnerability management. By bringing to market a sophisticated suite of tools for assessing vulnerability, fixing problems, and managing regulatory and policy compliance, Stewart's young company, TraceSecurity, has gotten the jump on this enormous potential market and is scooping up customers around the globe.

"What we do is more like offense than defense," says Stewart. "Our products are helping customers be proactive in identifying their vulnerabilities and how to fix them."

For organizations in sensitive industries like health care and financial services, the risk is so great that governments have begun mandating vulnerability management and raising the regulatory bar on network security-another factor contributing to TraceSecurity's enormous growth potential.

The company, just over a year old, has more than 100 customers, including clients in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia. Revenues are expected to explode at a 230 percent clip for 2005, by the end of which the company hopes to have doubled its staff. In July, it signed a new distribution contract that will take its vulnerability solutions into markets in South America.

Located in the Louisiana Technology Park, TraceSecurity has made a firm commitment to hiring personnel from Louisiana universities, utilizing regional and state resources, and forwarding economic development. Stewart, himself an alumnus of LSU, partnered with two Austin-based entrepreneurs, Jim Stickley and Rob Guba, to create the business out of two earlier security companies. Guba serves as chief marketing officer, while Stickley is chief technology officer.

Selling his partners on Baton Rouge as TraceSecurity's home base has been a win-win, Stewart says. "Everybody has concerns about recruitment when you say 'Louisiana,' " he notes. "But the upside is that the amount of support we get from our universities, our state government, and our local officials is just amazing. They have an interest in our company and its success that we couldn't get anywhere else."

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