The recent events concerning the NSA and Edward Snowden have churned up national concerns and fears about Internet privacy, and, well, the lack thereof.
"If there's one guarantee [from the NSA leaks], it's that no one can guarantee that companies will adequately protect your data for you," says Sarah Downey of Abine.
Founded by trio of talented MIT engineers–Andrew Sudbury, Eugene Kuznetsov and Rob Shavell– in 2008, Abine is a consumer privacy company, aimed at giving the regular, tech-averse folk more control over their personal info online. Privacy is the company's business, but the startup's employees only get paid when users choose to pay or when Abine receives funding.
"We think privacy is a rite," Downey tells BostInno, "and people should be able to get it whether or not they're super tech-savvy."
And what's at stake if we don't have privacy software? One in four data breach victims become vulnerable to fraud or ID theft, meaning that hackers have enough info to impersonate you, spend your money, ruin your credit score or even stalk you, warns Downey.
On Monday, Abine added a brand new product to its fleet of Internet security tools in efforts to keep those unfortunate risks to a minimum: MaskMe. The startup team had been working on MaskMe for over a year before the product's launch today. The product is a downloadable software that allows users to create alias information for use on the Internet's many outlets and sites in order to keep your personal info–everything from your name to your account passwords–private.
"You have to assume that any info you give out will be lost, shared, sold, stolen and used in a wide variety of ways," says Downey. Fortunately, the combination of MaskMe's forwarding and alias-creation technology counteracts the mining of personal data. Here's how it works:
When you open a browser through Chrome or Firefox that requires you to enter personal information–be it a credit card number, phone number, or email–a MaskMe window will pop up and provide you with a new "mask" for your information.
"It works in context while you browse," Downey explains, "so it only comes up when you absolutely need it."
While the numbers and email probably won't look familiar, Abine promises that its patent-pending forwarding technology links the alias account back to your actual account.
"[MaskMe] is the gatekeeper," Downey explains. "It allows you to use stuff without handing over a part of yourself."
When it comes to avoiding those annoying spam emails that plague your inbox, Abine makes getting out of such listservs easy. "You can block [the mail] too if anything negative happens," shares Downey.
The free version of MaskMe gives users the power to create alias emails, including the additional features of the program, like automatic form filling, account storage and password generation. A mere $5 a month, however, will also get users the credit card and phone number alias technology. The company also has a mobile-friendly version of MaskMe, available for iOS and Android.
What's more, the new software received a perfect score of five stars from CNET today.
The company's two other products are Do Not Track Me, a free browser add on that blocks and allows users to visualize the dozens of web trackers that scour people's web searches e-shopping carts for their personal information, and DeleteMe, a $129 per year service intended to remove the names of individuals from data brokerage sites that contain "everything from your net worth to your political views," says Downey.
It's no surprise that, given the national security disclosures, demand for online security services have jumped. Abine saw a 98 percent increase in installs of its flagship product, Do Not Track Me, says Downey. Abine competitors, too, saw higher downloads, with private search engine Duck Duck Go's 50 percent increase in downloads and virtual private network Foxy Cart realizing a 48 percent increase in bandwidth usage.
In July 2011, Abine received $5.2 million in investments from General Catalyst and Atlas Ventures.
Check out this infographic on MaskMe for some more sweet product details:
