Invisinet Technologies: Founding Zero Trust Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Protection

Invisinet Technologies started off by developing highly advanced cybersecurity solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), with an aim to protect military communications over public networks. The company’s innovative Zero Trust Network Architecture (ZTNA) technology was originally designed to cover and secure internet traffic for troops and equipment abroad. Over time, Invisinet transitioned these innovations to address the critical needs of enterprises and industrial sectors, ensuring secure communication in increasingly complex IT and OT environments.

Invisinet’s solutions are based on Zero Trust principles, with strong identity verification and traffic cloaking that helps minimize risks. Its product lines include Secure Remote Access, which provides protected connections for vendors, workers, and critical infrastructure. InvisiPoint Endpoint Protection tool protects communication between endpoint devices and protected network resources by using lightweight agents to embed user identities directly into network traffic. Invisinet counters threats related to unauthorized access, lateral movement, and supply chain risk exposure. It is a trusted solution for manufacturing, energy, and healthcare industries.

In conversation with Brendan Sullivan, CEO of Invisinet Technologies

Q. Can you explain about your services in brief?

Invisinet’s Zero Trust authentication tokenizes human and device identity at the point of origin and continuously passes identity at the network IP layer to gateways protecting network assets. Combined with our patented First Packet Authentication^™ technology, it can proactively hide protected assets from network scanning and stop threats at the earliest point of attack. Invisinet can also apply identity-centric policies to not only make systems inaccessible to unauthorized users and groups but also dynamically micro-segment networks and provide continuous session-based identity verification and reporting.

Q. With Zero Trust frameworks gaining widespread adoption, what sets Invisinet’s Zero Trust Authentication Platform apart from competitors in the cybersecurity landscape?

Invisinet delivers unmatched security with patented technology within an extremely efficient product that ensures proactive threat prevention and seamless IT-OT integration. Our difference includes:

• Invisinet’s patented First Packet Authentication ensures continuous, session-by-session network-level security.

• Proactive blocking of unauthorized scanning.

• Granular identity attribution, improving visibility to network traffic, and reducing false positives on IOCs.

• Dynamic policies managed by system-wide analytics using the Confidence Level API, adapting to policy changes on-the-fly across different network boundaries or layers

• End-to-end protection in heterogeneous environments with no increased overhead or latency, bridging the IT and the OT layer

Q. Invisinet holds over 15 patents, including the groundbreaking First Packet Authentication^™. Can you share how this innovation addresses critical gaps in network security compared to traditional methods?

TCP traffic is ubiquitous, but it was built for easy communication and was never designed for security. It relies on external mechanisms, such as firewalls or VPNs, to secure it. Bad actors can exploit these shortcomings to probe, monitor, and attack networks. However, networks protected by Invisinet are completely invisible to bad actors. Attackers will not know the protected network exists, and what they cannot see, they cannot attack. Invisinet’s built-in Microsegmentation allows

seamless communication between networks, not only to a protected network, like a VPN, but “to and through.” This helps protect organizations from both internal and external threats without needing multiple, disparate, and expensive security measures.

Q. Your solutions cater to both enterprises IT and IIoT environments. What challenges do you encounter when bridging the gap between these two realms, and how does your platform address them?

IT and OT or IIOT networks are built with different assumptions in mind. While IT networks serve information to employees or customers, IIoT networks are built around securing critical functions. In the past, these networks have been strictly air-gapped; meaning no communication (nor attack) would go through them. However, as machine learning and AI become more prevalent, this air-gapping is no longer possible. Large OT networks typically have 20-year life cycles, creating significant incompatibility between older equipment and modern tools. Invisinet is uniquely poised to span decades of legacy networks because of how it works end-to-end at the network layer using hidden properties that introduces no incremental overhead and near-zero latency at the network layer. This makes it ideal for use in hybrid and low compute wireless networks used in most OT networks.

Q. With the rise of hybrid and remote work models, secure remote access has become critical. How does Invisinet’s Secure Remote Access solution ensure resilience against modern attack vectors?

Modern attacks often rely on ‘social engineering’ or the misapplication of ‘legitimate’ access. VPN access passwords can be leaked, firewall rules can be neglected, and system users may have more access than needed. These can pose a significant threat to data and network security, especially where sensitive PII is involved. Invisinet can mitigate these challenges by ensuring unauthorized users cannot see a protected resource, let alone attack it. This obscures the target and encourages bad actors to ‘move on’ to the next target.

Securing Digital Critical Infrastructure

Invisinet Technologies has helped organizations improve their cloud presence while maintaining low networking profiles, enabling dynamic scaling of services without compromising security. Their Zero Trust solutions proactively safeguard critical information, allowing businesses to adapt to changing needs securely.

The company focuses on high-risk critical infrastructure sectors like manufacturing, water utilities, energy, oil and gas, transportation, and healthcare. These industries face escalating cyber threats, increased insurance costs, and stringent regulatory pressures, making Invisinet’s expertise invaluable. By addressing these challenges, Invisinet empowers digitally mature enterprises to implement AI-driven transformation while ensuring operational resilience.

Looking ahead, Invisinet Technologies remains committed to innovation in Zero Trust technologies, aiming to reduce cyber-attack surfaces proactively. The company plans to integrate with partners and deliver comprehensive solutions for enterprises transitioning from legacy systems to IIoT and AI environments, cementing its role as a trusted cybersecurity leader for critical infrastructure sectors.

Short Bio| Brendan Sullivan

Brendan Sullivan, CEO of Invisinet Technologies, is an industry veteran with 25 years of leadership in emerging market technology and network design. Most recently he worked with Viasat where he held positions as Chief Commercial Officer – Enterprise division, and the Head of the Intelligent Edge Solutions business unit which combined a portfolio of satellite-based IOT services, 5G technology, advanced cybersecurity and AI. Brendan has also served the role of CTO/CIO in multiple global segment leaders including at RigNet, Vubiquity, and DG Fastchannel.

“Invisinet delivers unmatched security with patented technology within an extremely efficient product that ensures proactive threat prevention and seamless IT-OT integration.” 

“Invisinet’s Zero Trust authentication tokenizes human and device identity at the point of origin and continuously passes identity at the network IP layer to gateways protecting network assets.”