Cryptek, Inc., was a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

that developed and sold

information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

products and services to governments and corporations. Cryptek was headquartered in

Dulles, Virginia Dulles ( ) is an unincorporated area in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The headquarters of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and ODIN Technologies, as well as the former headquarters ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The company was acquired by API Nanotronics Corp. in 2009.

History

Cryptek was founded in 1986 as Cryptek Secure Communications, Inc. At that time, the company designed and manufactured field-deployable, secure

FAX Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...

machines for the

military of the United States The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

. In 1988, Cryptek was acquired by General Kinetics, a manufacturer of secure enclosures and other products. In 1993, General Kinetics also acquired Verdix, a manufacturer of secure computer networking equipment for the

government of the United States The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

. In 1996,

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. acquired the FAX and secure networking businesses of General Kinetics. The company continued to operate as Cryptek Secure Communications, LLC. The company simplified its name to Cryptek, Inc. in 2002. In 2005, Cryptek went through a

corporate restructuring Restructuring or Reframing is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. ...

in which Bill Anderson became the President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. In 2007, Cryptek acquired three companies: Secure Systems Group of

Sterling, Virginia Sterling refers most specifically to a census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia. The population of the CDP as of the 2020 United States Census was 30,337 The CDP boundaries are confined to a relatively small area between Virginia ...

, United States, Emcon Emanation Control Ltd. of

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Canada, and Secure Systems & Technologies Ltd (SST) of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, United Kingdom. In that same year, Cryptek also acquired the assets of ION Networks of

South Plainfield, New Jersey South Plainfield is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in northern Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is situated on the border with Union County, New Jersey, Union County in the Raritan Riv ...

, United States.

Bankruptcy

In November 2008, the company filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

bankruptcy protection. In March 2009, Cryptek petitioned to move to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Through a senior management purchase of assets, a new company Cryptek Technologies, Inc. began operation on March 11, 2009. In July 2009, Cryptek was acquired by defense and aerospace company, API Nanotronics Corp.

Products

* ION Secure Remote Management Systems - a suite of products to control and manage vendor remote access on enterprise networks. * Netgard Identity Card Access Systems - a suite of products that control and manage user access to walk-up devices, such as multi-function printers and scanners, by requiring users to have a valid

Smartcard A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart cards include a ...

Common Access Card The common access card, also commonly referred to as the CAC, is the standard identification for active duty United States defense personnel. The card itself is a smart card about the size of a credit card. Defense personnel that use the CAC inc ...

(CAC)."Cryptek offers security for multi-function devices," Government Computer News, August 21, 2008.
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921080755/http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/46949-1.html , date=September 21, 2008 * TEMPEST and Emanation Security Products - a suite of computing and communications products that conform to various government standards for electronic emanation control known as TEMPEST. These products are provided under the Cryptek, Emcon and SST brand names.

References

External links

Official website
Defunct computer companies of the United States Networking companies of the United States Software companies established in 1986 Computer security companies Private equity portfolio companies Companies based in Dulles, Virginia Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008 1986 establishments in the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Networking hardware companies

History

Bankruptcy

Products

See also

References

External links