Saying she was inspired in part by the recent Slammer worm attack, Joan Wilbanks Lyman has resigned as chairman of SecureWorks to start another security focused firm.
Lyman’s new venture is “nmotion,” which she announced on Tuesday.
Nmotion will provide security patch management services — an offering Lyman said is needed because so many companies had not implemented patches to block a security hole in Microsoft SQL servers. When the Slammer struck, servers around the world were clogged and Internet traffic was slowed.
Lyman said nmotion would provide application and operating system patch research as well as policy recommendations for corporate networks. The focus is more than just keeping networks “patched,” she added, noting that the company would study client networks and employ various strategies for security threats.
Lyman, a co-founder of SecureWorks who helped raise $31 million in venture capital for that firm, also said nmotion would work to link security and network management.
“The days where security officers and network administrators can have separate budgets and network responsibilities are over,” she said in a statement. “The hacking and criminal elements have proven they are going well beyond the traditional models of cyber-crime.
“They are raising the level of security needs to move beyond traditional security technology and into network management. Nmotion is the service that brings the security officers and the network administrators together to defeat cyber-crime.”
Lyman said the company would base its sales operations in Atlanta and launch a research and development office in Hernandez, NM.
Lyman is an active member of the Atlanta entrepreneurial community, participating in such activities as Springboard and appearing as a speaker at numerous events. She co-founded SecureWorks in 1999 along with Mike Pearson. Both formerly were executives with CompUSA.
