Building a Culture of Security
This emphasis on security flows right through how we design and develop our products, with a base tenant being security is implemented from the beginning, not as an afterthought.
Philosophically, we believe that any system is only as secure as its’ weakest link. To that end WhiteStar employs only US citizens who have previously held, or could obtain if needed, a security clearance. WhiteStar subjects each new employee to a comprehensive background check to ensure the trustworthiness of our workforce.
Furthermore WhiteStar never has, and never will, outsource our engineering work. All development is undertaken in-house at our offices in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina while also maintaining a satellite office in Marietta, Georgia.
WhiteStar is funded entirely by qualified private investors avoiding the traditional venture capital firms whose money may come from international investors. Our investors are vetted to ensure they, too, are US Citizens and align with our mission of bringing greater digital liberty to the world. In order to avoid any unwanted influence, or questioning of who has access to our intellectual property, it is our policy that we will not accept investment from foreign entities.
WhiteStar prides itself on continuous education of our employees and the development of strong habits to maintain digital security. Employees are routinely briefed on emerging cyber threats in the world, raising awareness of potential attack vectors on WhiteStar products. The team also dedicates time engaging in rigorous philosophical discussions on how to best maintain user data privacy, making sure that all actions undertaken by the company are in accordance with WhiteStar’s founding principles.
Knowledge of current and future threats is infused into our development process, ensuring that all products released robustly react to today’s threat matrix. Internally, practicing what we want our customers to realize, WhiteStar maintains secure communication channels through our SOCIETY app in order to protect the integrity of our internal communications.
Finally, WhiteStar tracks our competitors for the purpose of understanding the current state-of-the-art, evolving vulnerabilities, and to have a thorough understanding of the capabilities of both our peers and the “Black Hats” who seek to attack them. We also maintain a hands-on testbed of competitive products and technologies in order to gain a more thorough understanding of other entities in this space. By analyzing the information obtained, WhiteStar learns from the mistakes and successes of others, allowing us to more accurately address emerging threats in our products, and understand the ways in which the company or its products can be attacked.