Crystaliz

Crystaliz Inc. is developing technology that will find online links between terrorist cells. Sankar Virdhagriswaran, founder of Crystaliz, has spent the past 10 years in stealth mode using funds from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create technology for different applications, including finding links between members of terr... orist cells. Virdhagriswaran, a graduate of MIT Sloan, says there are two separate and distinct parts of his business: research and development, and the soon-to-be commercial side. Since its founding in 1992, the company has received "eight or nine" DARPA grants for a total of $5 million, according to Virdhagriswaran. DARPA's interest in Crystaliz is the software, which can find patterns in data that make up e-mails and can sift through Web-based travel reservation data. The technology analyzes "semi-structured" data, data that mixes hard numbers and free text or data that makes up e-mails, for example. One individual's activities may not a terrorist make, but two individuals buying chemicals and planning a trip together may raise suspicion. Virdhagriswaran said his software would identify activities that may be linked to potential terrorist acts, such as buying fertilizer and chemicals. However, it would also have to distinguish between a farmer who has a legitimate reason for buying the chemicals and a possible terrorist. "When you are identifying terrorist cells you are looking at common places of residence and common travel patterns," Virdhagriswaran said. "In the case of the government, you'd be looking for a lot more information aside from (a person's) name or Social Security number." Crystaliz uses a technique called evidence extraction and link discovery, or EELD, to make those links. Eric Ogren, a senior analyst with Yankee Group's security group, said, "Security intelligence services is a good area (to be in). It takes some expertise. I like the concept of analyzing different databases, correlating forensic events and putting together a picture of behavior ...Read More