Local Company Stops Hacking, Tracking

The growing concern about personal information and privacy in the digital age has led a company based in Santa Barbara to develop products protecting consumers. MOS Equipment, founded by Westmont alumnus Ryan Judy ’08, manufactures Mission Darkness faraday bags, tents and lockers that block radio waves, including cell phone signals.

“A lot of people don't want their movements always logged or their information shared between their device and every wireless access point they pass,” Judy says.

After graduating from Westmont, he began working in security technology, primarily airport passenger and baggage screening, at a company based in China. He then started his own business in digital forensics focusing on phone and criminal forensics.

While in China, he learned how its government collects data on everyone, including journalists, to gain access to their locations and activities. “We’ve joined with Google, so they send our phone bags to journalists operating in countries where they may be tracked on their devices and located, compromising their human rights,” Judy says.

Modern vehicles with keyless entry and push-to-start technology are also vulnerable to a key-fob relay attack. “If you hang your keys on a wall in your house, cheap, readily available devices can go on the other side of the wall outside, grab that signal and boost it back to the vehicle where someone else can open it,” he says. Mission Darkness sells faraday bags for key fobs to consumers.

Products that shield radio frequency assist law enforcement officials when they confiscate laptops and cell phones as evidence. “They want to block signals so nobody can remotely wipe the evidence on the device, allowing them to keep the device charged and live,” he says. “To maintain the chain of custody with digital forensics, data can’t enter the device after the capture or seizure.”

A charged device allows law enforcement to use a tool such as GrayKey to crack the password and gain access to its contents.

The Navy’s special operations forces recently purchased a round of Mission Darkness Cybercylent faraday tents, portable shielding rooms (6’x6’x7’) that create a secure environment.

Judy continues to work with fellow Westmont alums on other ventures, including Jon Rogstad ’05, with whom he co-founded One Page Inventory that manages ecommerce supply. He and Alec Avedissian ’08 co-founded Rareform, which repurposes vinyl billboards into bags and other accessories. 

Judy came to Westmont with a curious mind and an entrepreneurial heart, and he credits the richness of his education and many of the connections he’s made for his success.

He recalls being a pioneer in duplicating CDs and DVDs on campus for clients such as Santa Barbara indie band Gardens & Villa and theater professor John Blondell during his days as a student. “Drummer Levi Hayden ’07 came to me and said, ‘Hey, I heard you can duplicate some CDs? Our band needs 300 so we can sell them and give them out.’ Using equipment in my dorm room, mostly computer towers, I could pop one in and duplicate a bunch of them. I also had a printer that could print on the surface.”

His CD-making assistant in 2006, Amanda Lyon Benenati ’08, now serves as vice president of marketing at MOS Equipment. “She’s been an incredible soldier through the years,” Judy says. “She's my right-hand person.”