In the previous articles in this short series, I explained that I have long sought a system for using proximity devices as the basis for identification and authentication, especially in the medical environment where most users are under too much pressure to tolerate logon/logoff procedures. Such applications would benefit from a system that automatically allows session initiation when an authorized user approaches a workstation and then either suspends access or terminates the session when the user needs to - all without any particular human intervention.

Imagine my delight when I received a press release from Ensure Technologies announcing precisely this technology. Within a few seconds (literally) I was on the phone and arranged to interview Tom Xydis, Ensure’s CEO and inventor of the XyLoc proximity devices.

Here is an abbreviated version of that interview. Note: This interview should not be construed as an endorsement of the products discussed. I have not personally evaluated the XyLoc system and I have no financial involvement whatsoever with Ensure.

Q: Tell me about your background.

A: I went to Northwestern University for my B.S. in electrical engineering (EE) and have a M.S. and a Ph.D. in EE from Michigan. I worked on digital radios and other equipment in the 1970s and developed the key-fob keyless entry system for cars; that got me into low-power wireless. After that I was involved in various committees for IEEE 802.3 and .4 and .11, and now Bluetooth.

The genesis of the invention for Ensure was my involvement in a wireless controls company in the 1990s; we built wireless control systems for everything - lights, fans and so on. We had a security breach where the salary information for the executives ended up on a bulletin board. So people said, “Someone must have hacked in.” Actually, somebody used an unattended terminal that was already logged in.

The comptroller tried to use a password-protected screen saver, but it kept interrupting her work, so she started locking her door and moved her administrative assistant in front of her office rather than use the screensaver. It was that incident that made me realize how passwords were getting in the way of productivity. I formed Ensure Technologies, where I invented and patented the XyLoc in 1998. We knew it was a good product and realized that healthcare was the ideal vertical market. They needed security but they couldn’t let security get in the way of their efficiency and workflow.

M. E. Kabay, PhD, CISSP-ISSMP, is Program Director of the Master of Science in Information Assurance program at Norwich University.