I spent twenty years with the Herndon Police Department, six of them specializing in cybercrime and digital forensics. In that kind of work, you usually meet people after something has already gone wrong. By the time a case reaches a forensic examiner, the damage is done, and the job is to explain how it happened.
ODIAN Shield Services came from wanting to work earlier in that story. Large companies have security teams watching their email, their networks and their exposure. Many families and small offices don't. Shield is our way of bringing some of that watchfulness to households and small businesses, as a done-for-you service explained in plain language.
The rule behind all four programs
Before I describe what each program does, I want to be clear about how they work, because it shaped every design decision. Shield Services are monitoring, assessment and advice. We find the risks, explain them in plain language and recommend what to do. You decide what changes. We don't change your network or your devices, and we start only after you approve in writing exactly what we'll check.
I built it that way on purpose. Your home and your accounts are yours. I would rather give you a clear, honest picture and a short list of good next steps than quietly reach in and change things you didn't ask us to touch. And I won't tell you we can stop every threat, because no security service can. What I built Shield to do is look for problems within the scope you authorize, explain what we find, and recommend next steps. You decide whether and how to act.
Scam Shield: helping you sort suspicious email
Scam Shield started with a very human problem. For some people, every strange email feels like a sign they've been hacked, and the constant worry is exhausting. I built Scam Shield to set clear scams aside and make a suspicious inbox less overwhelming.
Scam Shield checks your incoming email and moves clear scam attempts into a separate folder, so they stay out of your inbox. The bar for that is deliberately high. Anything it isn't sure about still reaches you, marked with a caution note. Mistakes can still happen, which is why I made sure Scam Shield never deletes a message. Every message it sets aside stays in that folder, and you can put any of them back in your inbox from a simple app on your phone.
Network Shield: knowing what's on your network
Network Shield grew out of protecting our own team's home offices. Once people work from home, the home network becomes part of the business, and a home network rarely gets the attention an office network does.
We place a small device on your home or office router that checks your network every week and tells us when something changes, like a new device appearing or a service becoming exposed. Once a month, you get a plain-language check-up of the devices and exposed services on your network, with the fixes we recommend. We don't change your network, and we don't read the content of your network traffic. The point is to give you, or your IT provider, a clear picture and a short list of what's worth fixing.
Smart Home Shield: the devices nobody thinks about
Cameras, smart TVs, plugs, doorbells and thermostats have made homes more convenient, but they're computers too, and they're easy to forget about. Some still have their default passwords, and some haven't had a software update in a long time. Smart Home Shield is about bringing attention to those devices.
Smart Home Shield takes stock of your connected devices and grades each one for common weak spots like default passwords or outdated software. Each month you get a clear report with the steps we recommend, such as updating a device, changing a password or moving smart devices away from the computers you use for banking and work, where your equipment allows it. Any change is yours to approve. It isn't an alarm service, and it doesn't take control of your devices. It tells you where the weak spots are so you can close them.
Privacy Shield: your personal information online
As an investigator, I know how much can be learned about a person from people-search and data-broker sites: home address, phone numbers, relatives, past addresses. That same information is what scammers, stalkers and identity thieves use to target someone. Most people have no idea how much of it is out there.
Privacy Shield is built and getting ready to launch. It finds where your personal details show up on people-search and data-broker sites, and our team prepares removal requests for you, reviews them and tracks them. Nothing is sent automatically. Because listings have a way of coming back, it also watches for your information to reappear so we can let you know. I want to be honest about one thing: each site controls its own response, so we can't promise that a site will remove a listing, or that a removal will last.
Where Shield stands today
ODIAN Shield Services are new, and I'm growing them carefully. Scam Shield, Network Shield and Smart Home Shield are in pilot use, and Privacy Shield is built and getting ready to launch. We're accepting a limited number of early clients by consultation. We start by understanding your household and what matters most to you, then recommend the right mix of programs. Pricing is shared during that conversation.
If you've ever wished someone you trust were keeping an eye on the parts of your digital life that criminals go after, that's what we built this to do. You can read more on the ODIAN Shield Services page or request a consultation. And if you want to know more about the intelligence platform behind it, read Building ODIAN.
Ronald H. Eicke Jr. is the Chief Technology & AI Officer of Global Traveler LLC, where he designed and built ODIAN and ODIAN Shield Services.