Secure Computing Corporation
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer security hardware and services |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Fate | Acquired by McAfee in 2008 |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Secure Computing Corporation (SCC) operated as a publicly traded firm specializing in computer security hardware and hosted services aimed at safeguarding users and their data. In 2008, McAfee completed the acquisition of SCC.
The company also engineered Internet filtering technologies utilized by governments such as those in Iran and Saudi Arabia to limit public access to certain online content.
Company history
Established in 1984 under the name Secure Computing Technology Center (SCTC) as part of Honeywell in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the division concentrated on developing security-certified operating systems for the NSA. Notable projects included the Secure Ada Target (SAT) and Logical Coprocessing Kernel (LOCK), both designed to meet the highest A1 classification of the Trusted Computer Systems Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC).
Gradually, Secure Computing shifted its focus from defense contracting toward commercial product offerings, capitalizing on growing market demand for Internet security solutions.
The company went public in 1995, experiencing a remarkable surge on its initial trading day—starting at $16 per share and closing at $48—reaching a peak near $64 before stabilizing between $3 and $20 until its purchase by McAfee.
In 1998, the corporate headquarters relocated to San Jose, California, while the majority of staff remained based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. The Roseville office was moved to St. Paul in 2006. Additional locations were established following various mergers.
Mergers and acquisitions
Secure Computing expanded through targeted mergers beginning with Enigma Logic, Inc., founded circa 1982 by Bob Bosen, who pioneered early challenge–response authentication methods. Enigma Logic’s technology evolved into a one-time password token akin to SecurID prior to merging with Secure Computing in 1996.
In 1996, Secure Computing acquired Webster Network Strategies, incorporating the SmartFilter product line and obtaining the webster.com domain (which was later divested). Shortly afterward, it merged with Canadian company Border Network Technologies, recognized for its Borderware firewall and robust sales network. Although efforts were made to combine Borderware with Secure Computing’s Sidewinder firewall, the Borderware division was divested in 1998.
At this time, Secure Computing maintained multiple offices across Minnesota, Florida, California, and Ontario but eventually streamlined operations primarily to Minnesota and California for operational efficiency.
In 2002, Secure Computing purchased the Gauntlet Firewall product from Network Associates (later McAfee). The subsequent year brought acquisition of N2H2, creators of Bess web filtering software, which was later integrated into SmartFilter as "Smartfilter, Bess edition."
The most significant merger occurred in 2005 with CyberGuard, adding a broad portfolio of firewall products, content and protocol filtering solutions, plus an enterprise management system. This deal extended Secure Computing’s global presence with new offices in Deerfield Beach (Florida), Paderborn (Germany), and Brisbane (Australia).
In 2006, Secure Computing merged with CipherTrust based in Atlanta, strengthening its email security product range.
On July 30, 2008, Secure Computing sold its SafeWord authentication product line to Aladdin Knowledge Systems to concentrate on web/mail security and firewall technologies. Later that year, McAfee announced and finalized its acquisition of Secure Computing, forming the largest dedicated security company worldwide at that time.
TrustedSource reputation system
Through the acquisition of CipherTrust, TrustedSource became a foundational technology that powered all Secure Computing product families by delivering global intelligence derived from behavioral traffic analysis across the company’s email, web, firewall appliances, hosted offerings, and OEM collaborators. TrustedSource produced instantaneous reputation assessments for IP addresses, URLs, domains, and email/web content by leveraging sophisticated data mining algorithms such as Support Vector Machine, Random forest, and Term-Frequency Inverse-Document Frequency (TFIDF) classifiers.
Web security
The leading web security solution was the Secure Web appliance (previously known as Webwasher), which provided Anti-Malware defense, URL filtering powered by TrustedSource reputation scores, content caching, and SSL inspection. In June 2008, Secure Computing introduced the Secure Web Protection Service, a cloud-based web security platform delivering comparable functionality without requiring onsite hardware or software installations.
Mail security
The premier email security offering was the Secure Mail appliance (formerly IronMail), incorporating TrustedSource reputation-driven anti-spam measures, data loss prevention (DLP), encryption features, and anti-malware protection.
Secure firewalls
The flagship firewall product, initially called Sidewinder and later rebranded as McAfee Firewall Enterprise, was sold to Forcepoint in January 2016. Over its lifecycle, Secure Computing developed multiple firewall product lines:
- Firewall Enterprise (Sidewinder) – originally built on SecureOS (a BSDi variant), subsequently transitioned to FreeBSD
- Secure Firewall Reporter
- Secure Firewall CommandCenter
- CyberGuard
- Borderware – divested as previously noted
- SecureZone – no longer available
- Firewall for NT – discontinued
- Gauntlet – Solaris-based and largely phased out
Sidewinder integrated components from the high-assurance LOCK system, including Type enforcement, which later influenced the design of SELinux. However, Secure Computing’s patent holdings restricted open source collaboration efforts. While Sidewinder achieved an EAL-4+ rating under the Common Criteria, it did not seek an A1 rating under the TCSEC framework.
Alongside Sidewinder, Gauntlet stood out as one of the earliest application-layer firewalls with a substantial user base within the United States Department of Defense. Originating from Trusted Information Systems, Gauntlet was a commercial adaptation of the TIS Firewall Toolkit, an early open source firewall project funded by a DARPA contract.
Use of company products for governmental censorship
The OpenNet Initiative identified widespread deployment of Secure Computing's SmartFilter software by governments such as Iran and Saudi Arabia to enforce internet restrictions. Secure Computing asserted that any utilization within Iran breaches U.S. sanctions and occurs without its authorization; the company actively endeavors to prevent such unauthorized use. Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society co-director Jonathan Zittrain observed SmartFilter's presence in both Iran and Saudi Arabia.
In 2001, The New York Times reported that Secure Computing was bidding to renew its contract with the Saudi government to block access to objectionable websites, with the existing agreement set to expire in 2003. The company maintains it lacks control over how clients employ its products after purchase. A 2007 report by the OpenNet Initiative indicated that Saudi censorship primarily targets content related to religion, social issues, political dissent, and human rights.
SmartFilter is also implemented by authorities in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Sudan, and Tunisia. Tunisia notably redirects users attempting to access blocked sites to counterfeit Error 404 pages to obscure censorship activities, reflecting its unfavorable standing regarding freedom of expression.
See also
External links
- Official website of Secure Computing Corporation
- Cost Analysis of a Highly Assured, Secure Operating System, summary of the LOCK system.