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Two engineers from Sheffield in England have created a programmable board that slots into a network with minimal disruption and instantly adds a layer of encryption. Since this security work takes place on the board rather than any network server, it barely affects the network performance but instantly sets up a defence against cyber attackers, who would need to hack into the board before they could breach the network. Better still, the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) board, as it has been named, uses a tenth of the energy of the security systems it could replace.
Sitehop, now based in Sheffield, was founded in 2021 by Melissa Chambers and Ben Harper. Chambers was co-founder of Prism Microwave which provided products for wireless infrastructure and was sold to Tongyu Communications in 2016. Harper has worked on cyber systems for companies including BAe Systems and Sheffield-based Curvalux.
They invented the Sitehop system to solve a specific dilemma for telecoms companies, cloud and internet service providers: adding encryption to a network without sabotaging speed or quality. Sitehop’s system can be used by any organisation needing secure private networks that can be encrypted at a fraction of the cost by removing the need for physical interconnections. The inventors say it could safeguard IoT systems such as smart factories and connected devices such as drones and self-driving cars.
Since developing the new encryption board they’ve raised over £1m from Mercia Equity Finance, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), Mercia’s EIS funds and private investors. The company is in talks with international network providers and is running a trial in Brazil before launching the system in spring. The funding will enable it to invest in equipment to support the trial and expand its six-strong team with the creation of 20 new jobs by the end of 2023.
“With the surge in demand for video calls and cloud computing, network operators are under pressure to roll out high-speed services rapidly,” said CEO Melissa Chambers, “security is often the last consideration and the impact on performance makes many companies launch services without encryption, which puts users’ data at risk.”
“Our hardware-based solution has none of the disadvantages of current systems and makes the addition of security a no brainer,” said Chambers, “the funding will help us to take the final step and bring it to market.” Until now there has been no way to provide the necessary security without slowing down response times and affecting quality, said Dan Thomas of funding company Mercia. “Ben and Melissa have found a novel way to address a problem that even the big tech companies have so far failed to solve.”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.