ThinAir

ThinAir, founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneur Tony Gauda, operated in the enterprise data security market from its base in Palo Alto. Gauda, with a background in cybersecurity and SaaS, previously founded companies like Bitcasa and Grail Networks and held a technical leadership role at MasterCard's risk systems department. His experience directly informed ThinAir's mission to address internal security threats.

The company participated in the Y Combinator accelerator program in the winter of 2015 and secured seed funding from investors including Workday Ventures, QueensBridge Venture Partners, and Western Technology Investment. ThinAir developed a cloud-based security platform designed to give enterprises visibility and control over their sensitive data. The business model was based on providing this platform as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to clients like CISOs and IT administrators.

The service focused on preventing data breaches originating from insider threats, accidental sharing, and data exfiltration. It worked by creating a protective layer around files, encrypting them and tracking their movement and usage. A key feature launched in 2017 was a conversational user interface, likened to a "Siri for Security," which allowed analysts to query data interactions in plain English to speed up investigations. The platform provided real-time monitoring, granular access controls, and behavior analytics to detect suspicious activity. Despite its efforts and early achievements, including winning the DEMO Enterprise award in 2014, the company ceased operations and is considered out of business as of October 2018.

Keywords: data security, cybersecurity, insider threat detection, information security, data loss prevention, encryption, access control, security analytics, enterprise software, SaaS, Y Combinator, Tony Gauda, data protection, security investigation, information attribution, data monitoring