Sanctum Inc. Explained

Sanctum Inc.
Type:Private company
Predecessor:Perfecto Technologies
Founder:Gili Raanan and Eran Reshef
Defunct:2006
Fate:Acquired by IBM
Industry:Software and information technology
Products:AppShield and AppScan
Foundation:1997
Location City:Santa Clara, California
Location:Herzliya, Israel
Homepage:www.sanctuminc.com (archived)

Sanctum Inc. was a Santa Clara, California-based information technology company focused on application security. Sanctum offered a firewall, AppShield, and scanner, AppScan, for application-layer security for Web environments.[1]

In 2004 Sanctum was merged with Watchfire and the company was subsequently acquired by IBM.[2] [3]

History

Sanctum was founded in 1997 as Perfecto Technologies, by Eran Reshef and Gili Raanan.

The company released its first product AppShield in summer of 1999.[4]

The company has done an extensive research in application security and applying formal methods to real life software[5] in collaboration with Turing Award winner Professor Amir Penueli. Early research in 1996 and 1997 led to the invention, in parallel to other teams, of CAPTCHA technology, and the application for a US patent for CAPTCHA.[6]

In 2000 the company renamed itself to Sanctum.[7] The company was backed by investors Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Goldman Sachs, DLJ, Walden and Mofet.[8]

In 2004, Watchfire acquired Sanctum for an undisclosed amount. In 2007, Watchfire was acquired by IBM.[9] [10]

Products

The AppShield product was an early Web application Firewall.[11] AppShield was conceptualized by Eran Reshef and Gili Raanan and was introduced to the market in 1999.[12] AppShield worked by inspecting incoming HTTP requests and blocking malicious attacks based on a dynamic policy which was composed by analyzing the outgoing HTML pages.[13] [14] [15] A 2002 ZDNet article noted that in the three years following its launch, it had been used by 60 Fortune 100 companies.[16] Watchfire acquired Sanctum in 2004, and subsequently sold the intellectual property for AppShield to F5 Networks, which discontinued the product in favor of its competing TrafficShield product.[17]

In June 2000 the company introduced AppScan the world's first Web Security Vulnerability Assessment solution.[18] Among the first clients for AppScan were Yahoo!,[19] Bank of America and AT&T.[20]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: What the Watchfire-Sanctum acquisition means for Web app security. en-US. 2016-09-12. 2017-10-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20171022184917/http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/What-the-Watchfire-Sanctum-acquisition-means-for-Web-app-security. dead.
  2. Web site: IBM Buys Watchfire. PCWorld. 2016-09-12. 2007-06-06. 2016-09-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20160927235048/http://www.pcworld.com/article/132617/article.html. dead.
  3. Web site: Kawamoto . Dawn . 26 July 2004 . Watchfire acquires Sanctum . 2026-01-20 . ZDNET . en.
  4. Web site: CNN - New tool blocks wily e-comm hacker tricks - September 7, 1999. https://web.archive.org/web/20010508181818/http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9909/07/ecomm.hack.idg/index.html. dead. May 8, 2001. Messmer. Ellen. CNN. 2016-09-12.
  5. Book: FM'99 — Formal Methods. Kesten. Yonit. Klein. Amit. Pnueli. Amir. Raanan. Gil. 1999-09-20. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. 9783540665878. Wing. Jeannette M.. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 173–194. en. Woodcock. Jim. Davies. Jim. 10.1007/3-540-48119-2_12. 41193257 .
  6. US20050114705A1. Method and system for discriminating a human action from a computerized action. 2005-05-26. Reshef. Raanan. Solan. Eran. Gil. Eilon.
  7. Web site: Perfecto Changes Name to Sanctum - Globes English. Globes. 21 June 2000 . 2016-09-12.
  8. Web site: DLJ'S Sprout Group Leads $16 Million Investment in Perfecto Technologies; Premier Venture Firm Backs eBusiness Security Software Company. - Free Online Library. www.thefreelibrary.com. 2016-09-12.
  9. Web site: Dignan . Larry . 5 June 2007 . IBM buys Watchfire; collects another security firm . 2026-01-20 . ZDNET . en.
  10. News: IBM Acquires Security Vendor Watchfire . http://web.archive.org/web/20250212100948/https://www.networkcomputing.com/network-security/ibm-acquires-security-vendor-watchfire . 2025-02-12 . 2026-01-20 . en.
  11. Web site: Sanctum’s AppShield . 2024-10-05 . Network World . en.
  12. Web site: 27 August 1999 . Perfecto Technologies Delivers AppShield for E-Business - InternetNews. . https://web.archive.org/web/20160421003828/https://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/190571/Perfecto+Technologies+Delivers+AppShield+for+EBusiness.htm . 2016-04-21 . 2016-09-12 . www.internetnews.com.
  13. Web site: CNN - New tool blocks wily e-comm hacker tricks - September 7, 1999. Messmer. Ellen. www.cnn.com. 2016-09-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20000411105516/http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9909/07/ecomm.hack.idg/index.html. April 11, 2000.
  14. Web site: 2002-12-31. Method and system for dynamic refinement of security policies. Google Patents.
  15. Web site: 1999-07-01. Method and system for extracting application protocol characteristics. Google Patents.
  16. Web site: You need more than a firewall to stop hackers . 2024-10-05 . ZDNET . en.
  17. Web site: Game Over? - Information Security Magazine . https://web.archive.org/web/20141215135829/http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com:80/magazineContent/Game-Over . 2014-12-15 . 2016-09-12 . en-US.
  18. Web site: Sanctum Introduces AppScan: Industry's First Automated Web Application Security Audit Tool. - Free Online Library. www.thefreelibrary.com. 2016-09-12.
  19. Book: Network World. 2000-06-19. IDG Network World Inc. en.
  20. Web site: Sanctum, Inc. cited as leader in key web security sector. 5 August 2002 . 2016-09-12.

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