Although it often seems as though no one is safe from the ever-growing cyber security threat, a unique partnership between a local school district and a leading Geo IP cyber-security firm could help make the internet a safer place.

Pittsburgh, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/30/2014 -- From JP Morgan, to Home Depot and Target, to the US Navy, to the average citizen, no entity is too big or too small to be immune from global hackers. At the same time, most reports indicate that not enough young people are entering programming and IT to fill new openings, let alone replace a wave of expected future retirements in the coming years. That is why PacketViper CEO Frank Trama believes it is so important to get more kids involved in the emerging cyber-security field, and why he has sought out local schools and teachers to start learning about this challenging field through competitions and games.

TRAMA - LOOK, CYBER-SECURITY'S AN EXCITING FIELD. BUT LIKE ANYTHING, IT'S NOT MUCH FUN WHEN YOU'RE JUST GETTING STARTED. THAT'S WHY GAMES ARE SUCH A GREAT WAY TO GET KIDS INVOLVED AND EXCITED ABOUT CYBER-SECURITY, AND THERE ARE SOME GREAT COMPETITIONS OUT THERE.

One such event is the nationally recognized Cyber-Patriot competition. With Colin Powell as a leading proponent, and sponsored by giants like the Air Force Association, Northrop Grumman, Microsoft, Symantec, and Cisco, the CyberPatriot competition has high schools participating in every state, and even from military bases across the globe. Unfortunately, until this year, even with leading technology companies and universities like CMU and Pitt, not one public school in Allegheny County participated. That's all changing with Mr. Trama's sponsorship of the Riverview Jr/Sr High School CyberPatriot team.

TRAMA - IT'S A NO-BRAINER REALLY. THESE KIDS GET GREAT EXPOSURE TO CYBER SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS. THEY GET EXCITED ABOUT IT. AND WE GET MORE KIDS INTO A FIELD THAT REALLY NEEDS IT. THE REGISTRATION FEE'S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR THE QUALITY OF LEARNING THAT WE'RE PUTTING INTO THEIR HANDS.

This is Riverview's first time in the CyberPatriot event, but it's not their first foray into technology competitions. A small public school serving the communities of Oakmont and Verona on the Allegheny River, Riverview is a leader in cutting edge technology education, with a surprising number of award-winning teams in robotics and technology for its size.

RSD PRINCIPAL - WE'RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS COMPETITION AND WE'RE REALLY PROUD OF OUR KIDS FOR DOING IT. WE KNOW THIS EVENT IS BRAND NEW AND THE STUDENTS ARE GOING IN WITH A LOT LESS EXPERIENCE THAN SOME OF THE OTHER SCHOOLS. BUT WE HAVE TEACHERS THAT ARE WILLING TO GIVE OUR KIDS SOME INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TASKS, AND OUR STUDENTS AREN'T AFRAID TO STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGE. THAT'S RIVERVIEW . WE'RE SMALL, BUT OUR TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND PROGRAMMING OPPORTUNITIES ARE SECOND TO NONE.

There are two qualifying rounds for the CyberPatriot competition and the Riverview team will know if they can make it to the nationals sometime in November. High scoring teams enter a platinum round of competition in December and can qualify for a fully paid trip to Washington DC for the finals. Either way, the kids seem to be thoroughly enjoying the experience. They were huddled around two laptops in a local Panera Bread eatery, alternately laughing and working feverishly to complete the problems within the allotted time. One team member noted that "it's not something I normally get to do in school", and another agreed that "it's pretty cool", and "more applicable than a lot of schoolwork". Another added that the competition is "more like a real-world situation". That's probably a good thing for several reasons. Learning cyber security could lead these young people toward a great job in an important emerging market, but these young technology experts may also be part of a new drive to create new internet security systems and firewalls that can make our virtual world a little bit safer from hacking attacks that are all too real.

Brian - it makes something not normally competitive
OWen - this isn't something you do on a daily basis - Others - I do.
brian - we had to manually discover and destroy a virus (Carys - we dropped a train on it)
Nick - it's pretty cool. more engaging and applicable.
Zane - More like a real world situation and something you could actually use

About PacketViper, LLC (Network Security Solutions)
Based in West Mifflin, PA and founded in January of 2012, PacketViper LLC, has quickly become a major player in the global Geo-IP network filtering arena. PacketViper is a flagship product that can reduce global network threats, attacks, probes, spam, save bandwidth, and resource loads on security systems. PacketViper's innovative advances in Geo-IP Filtering enable new and unparalleled levels of precision that allow businesses to avoid dangerous areas without excluding potentially valuable customers or business.   A versatile web interface makes ongoing management and reporting easily available. More information can be found at http://www.packetviper.com.  

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Canada is one of the most connected nations in the world, so Packet Viper LLC  made the strategic decision to establish a presence in Canada

Pittsburgh, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/30/2014 -- "Canada is an important market in our plan - we already lead the charge in the United States and other countries that face similar hostile forces. We can help conquer them in the North too," says CEO and Co-Founder Frank Trama. Packet Viper has worked with global partners to provide the solutions to cyber-security problems faced by business. Chief Technology Officer Ian Trump, CD spoke at length earlier this year at a Packet Viper sponsored cyber security event.

"The bottom line is the bad guys, operating from countries with negligible rule of law are going to probe, attack and exploit networks if they are exposed to the global Internet. Packet Viper's products provide a solution which protects business from the attacks. Do you really want everyone on the planet connecting to your Outlook Web Access?", Ian asks.

The answer is a profound "No" and this is echoed by the members from the various law enforcement agencies in attendance. "I love Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, you guys indicted the maker of crypto-locker and embers of the Chinese Army, that's awesome", said Ian Trump in his presentation. Ian was referring to the indictment of (insert quick google for the indictment of the maker of Zeus Game over and Crypto Locker and the indictment of the members of the PLA which conducted espionage against businesses in Pennsylvania). "You guys rock."

So, what is PacketViper doing in Canada? "We're sending some of our gear, racks of servers and "honey-pots" for our global threat intelligence program", says Kelsey Lucas, Packet Vipers representative responsible for Canada. "We believe that Cyber Defense and actionable intelligence for our neighbors to the North is crucial, they are our largest trading partner". Ian adds, "Packet Vipers' commitment to global cyber security is remarkable, we intend to do everything we can to support this product as it really makes a huge impact to an organization's security posture – our customers are more secure because of this product."

The threat is real. This is the most effective solution available – simple to use and simple to implement.

About PacketViper, LLC (Network Security Solutions)
Based in West Mifflin, PA and founded in January of 2012, PacketViper LLC, has quickly become a major player in the global Geo-IP network filtering arena. PacketViper is a flagship product that can reduce global network threats, attacks, probes, spam, save bandwidth, and resource loads on security systems. PacketViper's innovative advances in Geo-IP Filtering enable new and unparalleled levels of precision that allow businesses to avoid dangerous areas without excluding potentially valuable customers or business. A versatile web interface makes ongoing management and reporting easily available.

More information can be found at http://www.packetviper.com.  

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

BrightPlanIT, a leading Technology Services firm has partnered with Geo-IP filtering leader, PacketViper LLC to offer clients an accelerated and seamless experience when adding PacketViper geography-based Internet Protocol (IP) filtering to their network security infrastructure. Their solution adds an extra layer of performance without interfering with existing layers.

Pittsburgh, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/24/2014 -- The founders of PacketViper LLC invented PacketViper, a unique, highly configurable and granular filtering appliance that filters countries at the port level bi-directionally, which stops unwanted network traffic before it enters the customer's network. BrightPlanIT recognizes the importance of properly deploying technology security, while minimizing user disruption and speeding the time to full network protection. With this in mind, BrightPlanIT has developed a Best Practices On-Boarding Service: over the course of 30-to-45 days, BrightPlanIT Engineers guide clients through the installation, monitoring, customization and continual refinement of the unique Geo-IP filtering controls afforded by PacketViper, where every client's deployment is tuned to their particular needs. PacketViper and the On-Boarding Service apply to a wide array of customers from small medical practices up through Fortune 50 multi-national firms.

Alan "Skip" Gould (sgould@brightplanit.com), President of BrightPlanIT, Inc. stated: "We are excited to partner with PacketViper LLC in order to bring this unique solution to market at scale. We are already seeing significant delivered value for clients with an improved security posture, reduced bandwidth requirements and improved performance at the network edge. We look forward to helping PacketViper LLC grow into a major security industry player."

Jason Fuller (Jfuller@brightplanit.com), whose firm recently merged into BrightPlanIT will be championing this initiative from both a sales and technical perspective. "This type of opportunity is one of the many reasons I decided to join BrightPlanIT. I am proud to lead the PacketViper Solution Set that fits into every Internet connected IT environment, and adds another layer of security without interfering with existing Internet perimeter design."

BrightPlanIT's complimentary weekly newsletter can be received by registering on their website http://www.brightplanit.com or http://www.brightplanit.ca.

About PacketViper, LLC (Network Security Solutions)
Based in Pittsburgh, PA and founded in January of 2012, PacketViper LLC, has quickly become a major player in the global Geo-IP network filtering arena. PacketViper is a flagship product that can reduce global network threats, attacks, probes, spam, save bandwidth, and resource loads on security systems. PacketViper's innovative advances in Geo-IP Filtering enable new and unparalleled levels of precision that allow businesses to avoid dangerous areas without excluding potentially valuable customers or business. A versatile web interface makes ongoing management and reporting easily available. More information can be found at http://www.packetviper.com.

About BrightPlanIT
BrightPlanIT, Inc. is an Information Technology Services firm that focuses on Best Practices Solutions. They offer a wide range of services including Training, Systems Integration, Consulting, Hosting, and Mobile/Application Development Services. More information can be found at: http://www.brightplanit.com.

BrightPlanIT's headquarters are located in Buffalo, NY. Additional offices are located in New York City, NY, Las Vegas, NV, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA, Toronto, ON, and Washington, DC.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm