The incredible story of Valerio Pastore, from hacker to security guru

Boy, and you really want to grow up, go to America. And Valerio Pastore from Sarno, didn't think twice about following the advice of the Gartner Group, the most renowned consulting firm in the world of hi tech. But it won't be the usual brain drain story: Boole server, the Milanese factory led by Pastore, 36, a former hacker who has become an international security guru, does not leave Italy but, after opening shops in London and Paris, feels ready for the big business: to challenge the big names in their lair , San Francisco, where the commercial office of the Milanese boutique will open in a few days where Pastore works with a fierce staff of local brains that have nothing to envy to the talents of Silicon Valley.

But opening overseas is an obligatory step: just as to excel in basketball you need to perform on the parquet floor of Madison Square Garden or San Antonio, to win the trust of big customers, from Google to Facebook, you need to move to the heart of the future, between San Jose e Mountain View. 

“We believe that our solutions are mature and ready to penetrate the American market” says Pastore, who was found in his Sarno, just sixteen years old, by the shocked security services by the discovery that someone was violating the most protected “sanctuaries” of the Net. From hackers, that is genius hungry for knowledge (something very different from web pirates) to Italian leader in the protection of digital data and data-centric IT security, the step was logical, even if not short.

Today, however, his Boole server, already sells its security systems to a wide range of customers, from big Italians (Barilla, Tod's etc) to the Shanghai police. A rapidly growing business, which has already paid off the initial investment (600 euros provided by Santo Versace, dazzled by the talent of the young man from Salerno). But that's just the beginning. 

“Boole Server – continues Pastore – is ready to take the field and score a series of goals, first of all the diffusion of Made in Italy excellence in a market until now governed by stars and stripes solutions”. A market that is growing at exponential rates, as evidenced by the news (see Datagate, the privacy violations of the NSA and, no less significant, the web thefts of sensitive data of famous people) to the point that the BBC itself defined 2014 “the year of cryptography”.

To complicate the situation contributes the explosion of cloud. If in the past the defense of a system from computer pirates could be compared to the walls of a medieval castle, today we have to deal with another world: hundreds of cloud applications used by companies with data accessible from over 900 million devices. Hence the need to move away from a strategy based on firewall to a data centric Protection system, a methodology born and raised in a military environment capable of protecting any type of information anywhere (from servers to mobile), adaptable to any type of business, but also suitable for ordinary users.

Instead of virtual "walls" that are only insurmountable in theory, Pastore's system works with an algorithm that governs a software that encrypts the information that passes from one tool to another, making them inaccessible outside of authorized users. It can also make them visible for a few seconds and then destroy them. It is impossible to copy, photograph or archive information in any way: Boole's system does not supervise access but renders the files unusable so that the thief is left empty-handed.

The system works, as demonstrated by the many international awards (see for example the SC awards in London). Now, however, comes the most demanding exam. From Sarno to San Francisco is a long step. But the web world, as we know, resets distances.