It is safe to say that the Internet is the most incredible informational tool ever – and one that we rely on so much, I sometimes wonder how we survived without it.
As it has evolved and grown exponentially, we have learned to take the bad with the good – the bad being privacy and security issues and increasing limitations and restrictions. A lot of companies want to fix this problem and are attacking it from different angles, like Personal, which I just covered – they are co-hosting an online security code-a-thon with the Wall Street Journal next month – and Spotflux, a NYC-based startup that launched this morning.
“Our customer is the business traveler, the online shopper, the Web surfer, the Pandora listener, the Skype user, the 15 million people watching TV on their iPad, the 200 million people on Twitter,” said founder Dean Mekkawy. “We were motivated to create Spotflux because of the ever widening gap between what people are willing to share online and what is actually being shared without their consent.”
Spotflux’s technology bridges an encrypted pathway from your device to their infrastructure in order to protect you from malicious activity, privacy and location based snooping, and inbound threats like viruses and malware. The best part – it was designed to protect you whether you are at home, at an airport, cafe or any public WiFi hotspot.
Curious about the name Spotflux, Mekkawy told me it is derived from the concept of “ever-changing” or not fixed in space, which is, when you think about it, a perfect definition of the Internet. Pre-launch, demand was already strong: the company had attracted more than 100,000 customers in 121 countries. It is free, but they have tentative plans to use a free-mium model similar to Dropbox.
When asked about where they see Spotflux going, Mekkawy responded, “Our goal is to become a ubiquitous Internet tool, synonymous with a more private and secure Internet experience. The landscape for privacy on the web is constantly changing, and Spotflux is a rare company that looks out for you.”
You can learn more about Spotflux and meet Mekkawy and his cofounder, Chris Naegelin, at our #StartupLife Celebration at SXSW on Saturday. See you there!
