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aDolus Wins Top Tech Innovation Contest, New Ventures BC 2020

By Norma Dowler on December, 1 2020

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aDolus Technology Inc. bested 240 of BC’s most innovative tech startups, winning the New Ventures contest in Canada’s #1 startup ecosystem, boasting over 10,000 tech companies. aDolus received $100,000 in cash and $35,000 in services.

Their SaaS-based system integrates machine learning and decades of security expertise to deliver a ‘trustworthiness’ score for software.

They credit their success to addressing an issue that many organizations face: employing trustworthy software. “Our software validation checks could be the difference between a major blackout or pipeline spill, and reliable, safe energy for all,” says CEO Eric Byres.

Byres is a leading cybersecurity expert in North America, having previously testified before the US Congress to a committee on the security of control systems in critical infrastructure.

“We’re solving a ‘behind-the-scenes’ problem for essential industries that most people don’t think about. It’s not something you get asked about at dinner parties, but these critical devices keep the world going and keep the power on.”

Their advice to tech startups still finding their feet? Get product-market fit. “Part of our success came in changing our focus instead of our product. We had assumed our audience were the big asset owners like power companies. In fact our product is more in-demand by vendors of ICS (industrial control system) products.”

aDolus’s platform, FACT (Framework for Analysis and Coordinated Trust) helps suppliers and operators of mission-critical systems determine if software is safe to use.

aDolus began their journey just 3 years ago as a research project funded by an $800,000 USD grant from the US Department of Homeland Security. The team was asked to develop a “vendor agnostic solution” to verify third-party firmware destined for IoT devices.

“Our industrial audience is sick of security horror stories. They are looking for anything that makes their job easier and their products and facilities more secure,” says Byres.

Now a year into full commercial operation, aDolus has signed agreements with two major industrial vendors, as well as an influential IT antivirus provider to collaborate on data analysis and a telecommunications company to conduct field trials.

FACT is to be employed in critical industries such as energy, medical, transportation, and aerospace.

You can read more about the competition and the other winners at BC Business.

About aDolus Inc.
aDolus provides an ecosystem called FACT (Framework for Analysis and Coordinated Trust) for brokering information about IoT and Industrial IoT software. FACT helps facilities determine if updates are safe to install on mission-critical devices. FACT aggregates information from vendors, asset owners, system integrators, consultants, and security researchers, and applies decades of security expertise to build a “FACT score” of trustworthiness. Much like a FICO credit score, FACT makes it quick and easy to make installation decisions, enforce policies, and ensure governance of security processes via an audit trail. Visit us at http://www.adolus.com or for access to the free version of FACT platform, visit https://adol.us/quickscan.

Norma Dowler

Norma is the Marketing Director at aDolus Technology Inc and inexplicably leveraged a degree in 19th century American literature into an entire career in technology. She is particularly fond of the technology that keeps civilization ticking along.