Gold Comet
Enhancing Email Security by Fortifying Encryption

It’s an eye opener to know that over 65 percent of US businesses are victims of cybercrime at some point. With the ubiquity of internet-connected devices today, email has cemented its position as the ultimate communication tool, but surprisingly is also the most frequently attacked vector for hackers. Although email has become a staple in the lives of twenty first century professionals, it was never created with privacy and security in mind. Hackers are exploiting the lack of email security and sending emails purporting to be executives, clients, vendors, or other important personnel to con businesses into transferring money or data. This relatively new scam is a variation of a business email compromise (BEC) attack that has been undermining a business’s integrity. More than often, companies, executive boards, R&D departments, and many others will need to discuss highly sensitive details with their partners but are often conflicted as to whether it is truly secure to share private information over the internet. What if there was a way to guarantee that confidential emails remain private?

Gold Comet addresses this concern by providing a solution to protect confidential information and secure all online business communications. “We provide a highly secure tool that the industry, government, and educational institutions can use to protect what is private and valuable to them,” says John Hardenbergh, Co-Founder and CEO of Gold Comet.

Founded by a small group of IT experts, Gold Comet’s solution guarantees that the integrity of emails can be securely locked so that authorized people can access it when needed while being private and secure. “However, the Gold Comet solution is not a replacement for industry-standard email processes such as Yahoo, Outlook, and Gmail; rather, it is an additional capability that can provide security to all applications of online mail,” says Hardenbergh.

To best explain the potential of the patented Gold Comet system, Hardenbergh cites an interaction with an industry partner who, regrettably, paid an invoice amount of $100,000 to the incorrect vendor due to a BEC attack. This resulted in a twofold consequence the client had not only lost a huge amount of money but also had to still pay the correct supplier.

With the Gold Comet solution integrated with the client’s payment invoicing and finance systems, the company was able to close all gaps while also mitigating a vast majority of the client’s losses.

A Gold Standard for Information Transmission

The Gold Comet solution can be installed on a user’s computer, laptop, tablet, or any other equipment that can connect to the internet. To make the tool more user-friendly, the company has added a button that shows up on the email page. If a user is considering sending an email, all they have to do is click the Gold Comet button that redirects them into the GoldComet process and transfers that information, all while allowing the user to rest assured that the information is private and secure. The company also employs a whitelist, meaning users only engage with individuals they want to communicate with. This feature rapidly deletes junk emails, such that when the user receives an email through Gold Comet, both end-users know it’s authentic.

The Gold Comet proprietary process encrypts each data transmission with a unique encryption key. The company outperforms its competitors by utilizing both RSA and AES encryption to achieve 256-bit encryption, the highest level of encryption currently available in the commercial market. Additionally, all communication, collaboration, and information storage activities take place in the Gold Comet secure cloud.

To further fortify data, Gold Comet maintains an ultra-secure data storage facility at Iron Mountain. Gold Comet can also collaborate with government agencies as it is a US-owned and operated company that is FIPS 140-2 compliant and also compatible with the Department of Defense DFAR 252.204-7012 Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

Recognizing that the Gold Comet process goes beyond simple email type transmissions, Hardenbergh is excited to broaden the scope of the Gold Comet patented solution to include a broader range of applications. The first expansion of the patented security process intends to adapt its features to file storage to eliminate the frequent losses of intellectual property, R&D data, business operations, and financial information. “As for the upcoming year, Gold Comet will be launching an ultra-secure file sharing solution to allow collaboration between authorized users without the risk of information loss,” concludes Hardenbergh.