Tag Archives: cryptography

Pune based enterprise security firm Uniken raises investment from Nexus Venture Partners

Pune-based enterprise security software company, Uniken, has just raised a round of funding from Nexus Venture Partners, reports the Economic Times. The amount of funding has not been disclosed, but the internet is claiming that it is around $4.8 million. This is Nexus’ second major investment

Uniken’s main product is the REL-ID platform which allows enterprise software to be accessed from remote clients (i.e. mobiles, laptops, or home computers of customers or employees) in a secure way, in spite of the fact that the client is connecting to the server via an untrusted internet connection.

Imagine a bank, which is able to give its customers a “secure” mobile app that connects to the bank servers over the internet, but then uses REL-ID’s “private communication circuts” to establish a secure connection between the app and the server. Similarly, imagine an the sales database of a company being accessed by one of the salespersons on the road using a laptop. REL-ID PCC can be used to secure the connection between the laptop and the enterprise app without requiring laptop to be on the company network, and without requiring a VPN.

So, how is Uniken’s solution different from using an SSL or IPSEC based VPN?

According to the company’s website, REL-ID PCC is based on the concept of App-to-App tunneling. VPN’s on the other hand are based on TCP/IP Tunneling technology. VPN’s are installed as virtual network adapters and need administrative rights on the client machine in order to install them. VPN’s do not come with in-built mutual authentication and encryption technologies, for that one has to additionally invest in 2-way SSL or IPSEC technologies, increasing the total cost and complexity of the solution. These solutions are not viable when it comes to roll-out to large number of users.

More information about the product is here and here.

The Economic Times reports:

The firm has filed three patents and expects to file 12 patents in next one year. “Uniken is disrupting the digital security space with this platform that provides military grade security with rich digital experience,” said Sandeep Singhal, managing director at Nexus.

So, in the last few days, we’ve made two additions to the list of Pune companies that have raised funding in recent times (and that is even without counting the 3rd round of funding for FirstCry, because that was already on the list.) Is any company missing from our list? Please let us know.

Turing100 Lecture: Talk on Ken Thompson & Dennis Ritchie (creators of Unix)

In 1983, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie were given the Turing Award “for their development of generic operating systems theory and specifically for the implementation of the UNIX operating system.”

Prof. T.M. Vijayaraman will give a talk on the life and work of Thompson and Ritchie, and the history of Unix, on 27th July, from 2pm to 5pm at Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent (SB Road).

The event is free for everyone to attend. Register here

About the Turing Awards

The Turing awards, named after Alan Turing, given every year, are the highest achievement that a computer scientist can earn. And the contributions of each Turing award winner are then, arguably, the most important topics in computer science.

About Turing 100 @ Persistent Lecture Series

This is year 2 of the the Turing 100 @ Persistent lecture series. The series started in 2012 to celebrates the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth by having a monthly lecture series, and the success of the talk series in year 1 has resulted in the series being continued in 2013. Each lecture is be presented by an eminent personality from the computer science / technology community in India, and covers the work done by one Turing award winner.

The lecture series has featured, or will feature talks on Ted Codd (Relational Databases), Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn (Internet) Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (Unix), Jim Gray, Barbara Liskov, and others. Latest schedule is here

This is a lecture series that any one in the field of computer science must attend. These lectures will cover the fundamentals of computer science, and all of them are very relevant today.

All the slides and videos of all the talks in the last year are available here.

The next talk in the series will be TM Vijayaraman talking about Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie. In August, Ajay Deshpande will talk about Barbara Liskov, and in September Hemant Pande will talk about Fran Allen.

Fees and Registration

The event will be at Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent Systems, SB Road, from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday 27 July.

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Register here

Turing100 Lecture: Rethinking Education by D.B. Phatak – 29 June

As a grand finale for the Turing100 Lecture Series that was held all year at Persistent, this time, there is a talk on “Re-thinking Education – Transforming and Scaling the Learning Model” by Padmashree Prof. D.B. Phatak of IIT-Bombay.

The event is free for everyone to attend. Register here

About the Turing Awards

The Turing awards, named after Alan Turing, given every year, are the highest achievement that a computer scientist can earn. And the contributions of each Turing award winner are then, arguably, the most important topics in computer science.

About Turing 100 @ Persistent Lecture Series

This year, the Turing 100 @ Persistent lecture series will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth by having a monthly lecture series. Each lecture will be presented by an eminent personality from the computer science / technology community in India, and will cover the work done by one Turing award winner.

The lecture series will feature talks on Ted Codd (Relational Databases), Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn (Internet), Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (Unix), Jim Gray, Barbara Liskov, and others. Full schedule is here

This is a lecture series that any one in the field of computer science must attend. These lectures will cover the fundamentals of computer science, and all of them are very relevant today.

Fees and Registration

This is a free event. Anyone can attend.

The event will be at Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent Systems, SB Road, from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday 29 June. This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Register here

Noted Cryptographer Dr. Whitfield Diffie to speak in Pune – 8 Sept

If you have any exposure to computer security, you have heard of public key cryptography. If you’ve done a little work in the area, you are no doubt aware of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange that solves the key distribution problem, one of the fundamental problems of cryptography.

Whitfield Diffie, one of the pioneers of public key cryptography, and the co-inventor of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange will be in Pune for a few days this week, and will give a talk on 8th September as part of Uniken’s Innovation Lecture Series at COEP Auditorium. This is a day-long event that will consist of student project presentations from 10am to 4:3pm, followed by sessions by Sanjay Deshpande of Uniken and Dr. Diffie. See the event page for more details.

The event is free for anyone to attend. You can register as an attendee or register to be a student presenter of your innovative idea/project at the event page.

Uniken is a Pune-based company that builds technology in the areas of Information Security and Biometrics, Embedded Systems, Control Systems, Intelligent Software Systems and applies them to problems in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Media and Entertainment, Healthcare, etc.

Dr. Whitfield Diffie has recently joined the Scientific Advisory Board of Uniken.