A Bird’s Eye View on Security by Seokwoo Lee, CEO of Penta Security

“The demand for encryption is on the rise due to the continued leakage of personal information. Encryption is being used everywhere, from data to automobile protection,” Penta Security Systems CEO Seokwoo Lee stated – that introducing the D’Amo data encryption solution was one of the major factors that has led the company to what it is today.

D’Amo, the top database security solution in the Republic of Korea, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its release. “There are theoretical encryption standards. This type of encryption can be severely undermined if you can come up with a clever scheme that ignores these standards. Encryption can actually lower security if you stray from the correct path.” Mr. Lee advised against many of the new encryption products on the market today. He admonished these products for eschewing the encryption theories that have been developed for decades. “Encryption solutions can only be developed after building up experience with pure theory,” he stated.

“This model cannot be compromised.”

Mr. Lee, who graduated from Pohang University of Science and Technology, always puts technology before everything else. While a private company, Penta Security Systems has been involved in various projects that do not necessarily generate instant profits. Mr. Lee emphasized that this is not accidental: “We have undergone trial and error, but the know-how we’ve learned has enabled us to make better products.” He continued, “Our bold investment in technology and passion for R&D have served as the foundation for Penta Security.”

A representative case would be security technology for vehicle communication used by smart cars and connected cars. Penta Security has succeeded in developing secure vehicle communication using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital signatures. Mr. Lee explained, “The security technology for vehicle communication started from a small project, and it has evolved ever since. We are collaborating with a car manufacturer to commercialize the technology.” He continued, “Since we are a venture company, it is difficult to invest in something that does not increase revenues. However, we still cannot overlook new possibilities, in order to sustain our company’s growth.”

More challenges ahead

For the company, MyDiamo, the database security solution, is also a new challenge. Penta Security has released MyDiamo for MySQL and MariaDB, which are the most popular databases with the top market share, as a freeware.

It is a dual license – free for personal use, and standard license for commercial use. Mr. Lee commented, “It has been downloaded more than 3,000 times, and it has gotten into the countries that are difficult, if not impossible, to get into.”

“Of our 150 employees, there are about 70 researchers at Penta Security. We have even more researchers if we include the professional researchers, who collaborate on our projects externally. We look forward to more challenges in new technology in the future,” he added