"Just as bricks-and-mortar businesses need flesh-and-blood security guards, e-commerce firms need robust digital security. That's what Rodolfo Rosini and his Trieste-based start-up E*MAZE Communications are banking on. Starting in September, E*MAZE plans to offer a Web-based vulnerability assessment service consisting of remote checks and monitoring for potential security problems for companies doing business online. E*MAZE will keep a watchful eye on data safety via the Web and through appliances outfitted with the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and other technologies that allow Internet access from mobile devices.

Co-founder and CEO Rosini, 25, says E*MAZE which launched last December and currently has eight employees is presenting its business plan to venture capitalists. He's looking for first-round of funding of $1.4 million, and plans to move the firm north once he's got it. "London, Helsinki, we're not sure yet," Rosini says. "We are pre-everything at this time. Pre-IPO, pre-revenue, pre-funding. The only problem we have is that we're in Italy." As more people start accessing the Web through mobile phones, Rosini hopes to see the security market increase in worth by about 60%. "It's already an interesting market and will become enormous," he predicts. "There are some huge lacunae out there, and a lot of people with demands that aren't being met."

Rosini, who started working as an intranet consultant at the age of 20, says his staff all "had serious behavior problems in school. They could be defined as hackers, but we prefer to call them network security professionals." The company's first product, codenamed Adam, simulates a hacker attack on an IP network's address (Internet Protocol is the standard method of data transmission for the Internet and for the new generation of wireless applications), providing a detailed report of the vulnerabilities found. E*MAZE will offer different versions of the software for different levels of protection, but promises that a simple Web interface will make Adam appealing for even a "low profile" IT professional.

E*MAZE will focus on three main client categories: telecommunications and dotcoms, finance and banking, and manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. While E*MAZE will start in Europe, Rosini expects to go global almost immediately and says the next language for the website will be Japanese. "Our hope is that we won't be looking for clients, but that they'll be looking for us," he says. Rosini's co-founders Federico Ziberna, 33, director of R&D;, and Damiano Scrigni, 19, lead developer have some personal experience with keeping things safe. Ziberna has a black belt in Aikido and Scrigni has one in Judo just in case of security problems."

http://www.time.com/time/europe/webonly/tech/2000/07/emaze.html