ALISO VIEJO, CA – April 23, 2013 — Arkami™, creator of myIDkey™, today announced the appointment of Benjamin Chen as Arkami’s chief executive officer. Mr. Chen, currently Arkami’s executive chairman, brings more than 25 years of technology and business leadership in working with fortune and venture-backed organizations across a variety of markets including media, advertising, cloud and infrastructure.  He trades positions with Arkami’s founder, Tareq Risheq, who will now be the executive chairman.

“We are very pleased to add Benjamin’s experience and leadership to the Arkami team,” said Mr. Risheq. “His results-oriented approach and ability to think strategically will play a pivotal role in guiding our award-winning myIDkey to be the industry standard for solving identity and password management issues.”

Arkami recently unveiled myIDkey in January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where it won three innovation awards in the categories of Computer Peripherals, Accessories and Personal Electronics.  myIDkey stores all of your passwords and critical information on a portable Bluetooth / USB device. Unlocked with the swipe of a finger, myIDkey enables you to voice-search for logins, passwords and ID information on its own OLED screen for quick access while on the go.

myIDkey is also a complete password management system that auto-fills passwords across all frequently used web sites on all personal computers and smart mobile devices. Utilizing myIDkey apps for iPhone and Android, you can easily manage and edit passwords and encrypt select files to protect with your unique fingerprint.

myIDkey recently finished a Kickstarter campaign that sold over 5,000 units in 30 days, making it one of the most successful technology projects ever launched for the consumer market.

“In all my years I‘ve never seen a company get such incredible traction so quickly,” said Mr. Chen. “Password and identity management is a common and growing problem; myIDkey solves a critical pain point, not only for consumers but for businesses as well. We’ve been approached by many companies globally wanting to resell as well as partner for a number of business applications.”

Mr. Chen has experience in leading companies to make them world leaders within their industries.  Mr. Chen is a board member of Viggle (VGGL) and has served in the Office of the Chairman.  Mr. Chen was founder and CEO of Mochila, a leading content syndication platform. Before founding Mochila, he worked as an external entrepreneur in residence for both JP Morgan and Mission Ventures as well as acted as an advisor conducting due diligence on new business models and technologies for GE Capital. At iXL, a strategic interactive agency (now part of Publicis Groupe), Mr. Chen was the global CTO and CIO responsible for all internal and external technology initiatives, as well as leading the due diligence in the acquisition and integration of over 30 companies, helping grow the company in three years from 60 to 3,000 people, with offices in the US, Europe and Asia. Client engagements included work for AT&T, Delta Airlines, FedEx, GE, Sony and WebMD. He was part of the management team that took iXL public in 1999, with a market capitalization of over $4 billion.

Mr. Chen was founder and CEO of AppGenesys, CTO for Boxtop Interactive and founder and CTO of Ironlight Digital (bought by Publicis Groupe). Mr. Chen also worked at CBS Studio Center as a technologist working on the convergence of prime time television content and the internet. Mr. Chen produced the 1996 Emmy Awards Cybercast.

Mr. Chen is frequently a speaker and panelist to new media, technology and venture conferences. Mr. Chen is a graduate from the University of Southern California and has Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido.

About Arkami, Inc.

Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, Arkami, Inc. recognized a familiar pain point in most digital users’ lives and manufactured a simple password management device. myIDkey is the first fingerprint, voice-search, secure Bluetooth / USB drive that displays passwords and ID on the go as well as works with smart mobile devices and personal computers. Now passwords and account information is at the tip of your finger. www.myIDkey.com

MEDIA CONTACT

Kelly Reeves

KLR Communications, Inc

P. 949-509-1888

Kelly@klrpr.com

ALISO VIEJO, CA –March 12, 2013 -  Arkami™, Inc. today announced new members to the Advisory Board (list below) to provide valuable perspective on the introduction of myIDkey^TM , the industry’s first biometric fingerprint, Bluetooth wireless / USB key. Building off the successful Kickstarter launch, the board brings strategic counsel to the executive team in the areas of business development, market trends and technology leadership as the product gets set to launch later this year.

With 10 days left in the Kickstarter campaign, myIDkey already has more than 3,000 backers who have pledged more than $354,000 which is 235% of the original funding goal. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/myidkey/myidkey-passwords-at-the-tip-of-your-finger

The award-winning myIDkey, the company’s flagship product, stores all of your passwords and critical information on a portable Bluetooth / USB device. Unlocked with the swipe of a finger, myIDkey enables you to voice-search for logins, passwords and ID information on its own OLED screen for quick access while on the go.

myIDkey is also a complete password management system that auto-fills passwords across all frequently used web sites on all personal computers and smart mobile devices.  Utilizing myIDkey apps for iPhone and Android, you can easily manage and edit passwords and encrypt select files to protect with your unique fingerprint.

New Advisory Board members include:

Michael Dunn: consultant and former CTO with Hearst, Time Warner, Dell Online.  Dunn is an accomplished executive with extensive experience as a business and technology leader within the media, advertising and technology industries primarily in the CTO role. He focuses on enabling emerging Internet technologies including the semantic Web, big data, Web and enterprise content management systems, digital asset management, cloud services, online video, mobile applications, social platforms, and analytics and ecommerce.

Mikko Hakkarainen: director engineering Lutron Electronics, Maxim Integrated Products, GE Research. As a versatile electrical engineer he has broad-based expertise in integrated circuit design and definition for consumer, medical, and wireless electronics applications. His designs for innovative products reinforce an organization’s position as an industry leader. He also utilizes his extensive international experience and social acumen to develop and maintain visibility with customers worldwide.

Geir Magnusson Jr.: former CTO Viggle. He’s served as a technical executive and leader for companies such as Gilt Groupe,10gen, Joost, Adeptra, Bloomberg and Intel, and has built systems and solutions for industries ranging from financial markets to digital audio. He also has broad experience in open source, having founded several significant open source projects, such as Apache Geronimo, Apache Harmony and Apache Velocity. He’s also an international speaker on open source and software technology.

Dave Rand: chief technologist for internet content security for Trend Micro (TSE: 4704). He is responsible for creating innovative solutions to problems such as spam, phishing and pharming. Rand is a pioneer of network-layer spam blocking technologies and founded Kelkea which was acquired by Trend Micro. Prior to Kelkea, he co-founded AboveNet Communications, the co-location company with the largest IP network that went public in 1998 and was acquired by Metromedia Fiber Network in 1999. He has also held senior positions at Cisco, National Semiconductor, and Novell.

Harriet Seitler: CMO and executive vice president for both OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network and Harpo Studios. She oversees all marketing and social media strategies for both the network and the studio. Seitler is a Harpo veteran with more than 15 years’ experience in promoting “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and launching key brand extensions and new media ventures that maximize its audience. Prior to working at Harpo, Seitler served as vice president, marketing at ESPN.

Leo Spiegel: managing partner at Mission Ventures, a Southern California venture capital firm that invests in early stage IT companies. Prior to joining Mission Ventures, Leo Spiegel was President of Digital Island, Inc., a leading provider of global e-business network and content delivery services. Leo joined Digital Island as a result of a merger with Sandpiper Networks, Inc., the world’s first content delivery service provider for the Internet, where he was the chairman, president, and chief executive officer. In 2000, Leo won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.

About Arkami, Inc.

Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, Arkami, Inc. recognized a familiar pain point in most digital users’ lives and manufactured a simple password management device. myIDkey is the first fingerprint, voice-search, secure Bluetooth / USB drive that displays passwords and ID on the go as well as works with all smart mobile devices and personal computers. Now passwords and account information is at the tip of your finger. www.myIDkey.com

ALISO VIEJO, CA – February 20, 2013 – Arkami™, Inc. today announced it has launched its Kickstarter campaign to fund its award-winning myIDkey™, the company’s flagship product that allows you to securely store all of your passwords and critical information on a portable Bluetooth / USB device. It is the industry’s first finger-swipe activated wireless device with voice-search and OLED screen that securely displays logins, passwords and ID information while on the go.

myIDkey is a complete password management system that auto-fills passwords across all frequently used web sites on all personal computers and smart mobile devices. Utilizing myIDkey apps for iPhone and Android, you can easily manage and edit passwords and encrypt select files to protect with your unique fingerprint.

Founded by Tareq Risheq, a serial entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in VC backed technology/CE companies; Arkami seeks to raise $150,000 in Kickstarter to help finalize product development and manufacturing and expand its marketing initiatives.

“With the ever-increasing digital lifestyle, we are constantly adding passwords to access our data, so many in fact, that we can’t remember them all,” said Tareq Risheq, founder and CEO of Arkami, Inc. “myIDkey solves this universal problem with a simple, portable solution that allows you to securely access your passwords and ID information at any time, from anywhere.”

“When we developed myIDkey, we knew we had a homerun — a position that was reinforced by the Consumer Electronics Association honoring it with three Innovation Awards at this year’s CES,” said Mark Thacker, COO of Arkami. “We are gaining momentum, and funding through Kickstarter will help take us to the next level.”

Built on an industry-leading ARM-based microcontroller, myIDkey secures ID and password information on an ultra-portable key, which features an easy-to-read OLED screen with navigation buttons. It also features voice search technology for quick and easy hands-free access to critical information. myIDkey includes an embedded biometric authentication for fingerprint activation, AES-256 bit encryption to protect your data, and multi-layer authentication for added security. If your myIDkey is lost or stolen, data will automatically be deleted after a set number of failed attempts to gain access.

myIDkey’s secure cloud-based service allows you to manage and synchronize your information across all of your devices. Integrated Bluetooth allows you to securely connect to your smartphone or tablet, manage your information and protect what matters to you. And, by using multiple myIDkeys you can share passwords and information between family members and trusted individuals. It is both Windows and Mac compatible and very easy to install and use. It also includes storage for music, photos and files.

For more information on the myIDkey Kickstarter project please go to: http://kck.st/Z0LJ8c

About Arkami, Inc.
Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, Arkami, Inc. recognized a familiar pain point in most digital users lives and manufactured a simple password management device. myIDkey is the first fingerprint, voice-search, secure Bluetooth / USB drive that displays passwords and ID on the go as well as works with all smart mobile devices and personal computers. Now passwords and account information is at the tip of your finger. www.myIDkey.com

Unfortunately, there are sophisticated software programs already out there ready to test an infinite number of possible combinations of letters and numbers users might use to create a password. Password cracking programs, and other newer hardware devices, have made it so passwords are even more vulnerable than ever before.There are large databases of real-world passwords that grow each time sites like Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn and other sites are hacked. And what’s worse, hackers publish these passwords for the rest of the hacking community. Real-world data makes hackers smarter and faster at cracking passwords, and depending on what type of hardware and software is used, they can crack a 6 character password in less than a second. And if your Twitter or Yahoo password has been hacked, your other accounts are at risk, especially if you’re using the same username, email and password for many of your other accounts.

So what is a secure password? A secure password is a password that can’t be easily guessed or figured out by information that can be found on your Facebook page. The most obvoius step to creating a secure password is to avoid common passwords, but it’s not just these common passwords (like “password”, “passw0rd”, “qwerty”, “123456” and “abc123”) that are easily cracked. Passwords you think might be clever or hard to guess may be vulnerable too. By following these tips for creating a secure password, you exponentially increase the level of difficulty it takes to crack your password.

1. Use Numbers
First, using numbers in your password may add only 10 possible characters to the total list of characters options, but drastically increases the total number of possible password combinations for any given password. This increases the time it takes for software programs to crack a password and makes it much more difficult, if not timely, to crack. However, there are some caveats to this. Using repeating numbers or numbers in sequence decreases the effectiveness of adding numbers, so it’s best to avoid combinations like “123” or “333”. Also special dates, like birthdays or anniversaries, can be common knowledge and easily guessed or found using Facebook or other public records.

2. Use Uppercase Letters
Using  uppercase letters, in addition to lowercase letters, will also add additional character choices and increase the total variation of possible passwords. However, capitalizing the first letter in a word or name is easily deciphered, so it’s best to capitalize unpredictable letters to increase the randomness of you password and make it more difficult to crack or be guessed.

3. Use Special Characters
Adding punctuation or other special characters adds even more possible combinations of passwords and increases the randomness of your password. The more random a password is, the more difficult it is to crack. Sprinkling special characters, like “&”, “^”, “?”, along with using uppercase and lowercase letters all make your password more secure.

4. Use 10-14 Characters When Possible
Every site has a minimum number of characters you need to use when creating a password, but the more characters you use, the more secure your password will be. The amount of time it takes to crack a password with more than 16 characters is measured in years, as opposed to less than a second for passwords with only six. Whenever possible, use longer passwords.

5. Don’t do these…
So far we have covered the things you should do when creating a new password, but here’s a list of common, and easily guessed, techniques people use that should be avoided at all cost.

1. Don’t use individual words that are in the dictionary, like “monkey”, “princess”, “master”
   (combining unrelated words is a little more secure)
2. Don’t use foreign words
3. Don’t use predictable patterns
4. Don’t use popular names like “jennifer” “michael” or “john”
5. Don’t use common phrases, like “ilovecats”
6. Don’t substitute a “3” for an “E” or an “@” for an “a”

The difficult step in creating a secure password is remembering them. The best method to manage all your secure passwords is to use a password manager, like myIDkey. MyIDkey is not only a password manager, but can be authenticated with your fingerprint. This allows you to create super strong passwords for each account that can be accessed with a swipe of your finger. It’s much quicker than typing and it’s on a military-grade USB drive with bluetooth and an OLED screen for viewing your passwords. It’s also voice-activated so you can quickly retrieve specific passwords and other information, like gate codes, and bank account numbers.

Using these tips to create a secure password is a good start, but if you can’t remember your passwords, they’re useless. Using a good password manager, like myIDkey will allow you to create strong secure passwords and keep track of them all. This way you not only are your passwords secure, but you are too.

It may not seem like a huge deal to you that your Twitter password has been compromised. If you haven’t heard, over 250,000 Twitter passwords and email addresses were stolen.But there is nothing valuable about your Tweets and you can change your Twitter password, right? Well, it’s not that simple. If you use the same username (maybe it’s your email address) and password for all your accounts, then what about Gmail, LinkedIn, Chase and all other accounts? Hackers and identity thieves can use computer programs to automatically plug in the usernames and passwords they stole from Twitter on other sites and this means trouble if you’re using just one password.

“If your password is the name of your dog or cat, you should probably look into changing it”

If you don’t think this is likely, think again. It seems like each week there is a new story posted about passwords being stolen and accounts being hacked. Recently it was revealed that a hacker broke into the email accounts and stole important information from President George H. W. Bush and several family members. The hacker cracked the login credentials for one account, and used that information to access other accounts. He was able to steal personal pictures, email communications, and even a gate code.

This isn’t just a lone hacker targeting a high profile individual or family. In many cases, a computer program along with high-tech hardware is used to hack sites and steal hundreds of thousands of passwords, usernames and emails. Then they’re posted online for the hacker community to share. In July 2012, Yahoo confirmed that over 450,000 emails and passwords were stolen and thieves posted the login credentials online. Another site, Gamingo, also had over 8 million email addresses and passwords stolen.

If you’re using a unique password for each of your accounts, (easier said than done unless you’re using a password manager) there will be no ripple effect. But if you’re still using the same password for all of your accounts, then you could be facing serious problems. The best way to limit the damage when one of these sites is hacked is to use a different password for each site, and the best way to manage all those passwords is with a device like myIDkey. MyIDkey is not like other password managers, because it offers the increased protection of using biometrics. Instead of remembering one complex password that, if cracked, would provide access to all your accounts, myIDkey uses your fingerprint to authenticate you and only you.

To ensure all your accounts are secure, you should take the extra time to create a unique password for each one you have, or let a password generator do it. Either way, don’t take any chances. You can save yourself a lot of headaches by using myIDkey to increase password security.

Use “FastWords”
Unfortunately, most strong passwords are not easy to remember. They usually include a series of uppercase and lowercase letters along with punctuation and special characters, like “bSh9p~dQ6i}”. And they’re long. But that’s not the only way to create a secure password. According to security expert, Markus Jakobsson, you can also use several unrelated words mashed together. Jakobsson has come up with a method for creating secure passwords called “FastWords”. Rather than using a random and complex string of characters thar are difficult to remember, his system involves thinking of a story and coming up with three important and unrelated words from the story. His example is “jogsquirrelforest”. The key here is to use a combination of words that would never be found together. The more bizarre the combination of words, the easier it is to stump password crackers. Several other internet security bloggers have similar methods to create easy-to-remember passwords; however, these methods might not be an option if you’re required to follow a set of password requirements.

Typing a string of 8 to 10 random characters, or three-to-four unrelated “FastWords” into a password strength checker, both result in a medium-to-strong password. But in order to achieve a “super strong” password, you need to use a random string of 12 to 14 unrelated numbers, letters and punctuation.

Use a Password Manager
So how will you remember remember 20 or 30 (or possibly more) different passwords with 12 to 14 characters each? The best solution is to use some sort of password manager. A password manager is software that helps you organize passwords and pin codes. An even more secure alternative is to use a device that can help you manage all of your passwords, like myIDkey. MyIDkey is a USB device with a built-in password manager and a biometric fingerprint reader. It’s also voice-activated so you can ask for specific passwords and authenticate with your finger and your password will appear on the screen of the device.

Unfortunately, unless you are using a device like myIDkey, there is no easy solution to remembering all your passwords.  Although it’s much easier to remember and type “unicorngrapeharbor”, than “bSh9p~dQ6i}”, you may not meet given password requirements. And if you aren’t writing down passwords (and you shouldn’t be), remembering “bSh9p~dQ6i}” is going to be almost impossible. So the best recommendation to help remember a password, is not to. Use a password manager or a device like myIDkey. If you have any tips to help you remember complex passwords, let us know.

But now, for the life of me, I can’t remember the password. Maybe I should’ve written it down, but this can lead to even bigger problems if it gets into the wrong hands. It seems that having more complex passwords for all of your different accounts can actually be less secure in some circumstances, depending on how you manage them. A complex password usually has between 10 to 14 characters, is composed of uppercase and lowercase letters, and uses numbers and special characters in no particular order. So an example would be something like this “Bi315sh0P+E”.  But a password like this is also very difficult to remember, so writing it down is very tempting. And if you have different passwords for each online account, it’s pretty likely that you’ll need to write them down somewhere.

Writing down your password opens you up to a myriad of potential risks. If you keep a notebook of passwords in your desk, in a file on your computer, or on a post-it note under your keyboard, there’s a chance someone could find it, or the paper could get lost. As a result, all your accounts are now at risk.

A better option for storing your secure passwords and ensure they are, in fact, secure, is a password manager like 1Password, RoboForms and LastPass. Some are safer and more convenient than others, but one of the best ways to ensure that your passwords are safe is to use a device like myIDkey. This device uses biometrics to authenticate you, which is easier than having an another long and complex  password to access your other passwords. MyIDkey also gives you the added benefit of a military-grade encryption USB drive to store files, and it can be added to your keychain.

Conventional wisdom, and lots of internet security experts, tell us that we should be using complex passwords for each of account to ensure our information is secure. And as hackers get better and faster at cracking passwords, we need longer and more complex passwords to keep them secure. It may be tempting to write down your passwords on a yellow sticky pad or in Evernote, but that comes with its own set of risks. The best option is still to use complex passwords for your accounts, along with an ultra-secure password manager like myIDkey.

1. Never give your password out.
The most obvious way to protect your passwords is to keep them to yourself. You’re asking for trouble when you give your girlfriend, or anyone else for that matter, your password. It may seem like a good idea at the time, but it’s possible you will make them angry one day. So, the easiest way by far to protect your passwords is to NEVER give them out.

2. Use strong, secure passwords
The next step you should take to protect a password is to come up with a secure password. Although it is tempting, and many of us do it, it is a bad idea to use the names of family members, birthdays, and other easy to remember (and also easy to guess) information in passwords. It isn’t only a person who knows you that may be trying to get into your accounts. Often times, it is a computer program that is trying to crack your password.
So, what is a secure password? Theses are the requirements given by FSRS (a U.S. government agency that deals with government contracts) for creating passwords:
First, the password must be 10-14 characters long. Second, the password must contain two of each of the following: upper/lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. An example they give of an acceptable password is: AAbb1234!@
All websites have different parameters for creating a password so it is hard to come up with an exact rule that you can use to create a secure password for all your accounts. Many websites, (including some banks, oddly enough) limit the number of characters that can be used. But the general rule is this: a secure password is complex, long, and a variation of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Words from the dictionary and foreign words should be avoided.

3. Use unique passwords for each account
So now that you have created a secure password that only you know for your Facebook account, it is very tempting to use the same password, or a variation of it, for your Instagram, PayPal, and Wells Fargo accounts. If you use the same password for many of your accounts, as a lot of people do, it is inevitable that once one of your accounts is hacked, the others will soon follow. This is especially true because we often times use our email address as our username (sometimes we don’t have a choice) which makes it even easier for other accounts to be broken into once one password is cracked.To ensure that your passwords are secure, each account you create should have a password that is unique to that account. It is not enough to change a lowercase letter to an uppercase letter, or substitute a “3” for an “E”. Each password should be different than the others.

4. Don’t write your passwords down
Now the hard part. Once a secure password is created for each of your accounts, you have to

remember it. If your password is secure, it is likely that it is more than seven digits long. But the average human can remember only about seven digits at a time. So you will probably be tempted to write your password down somewhere. There are many problems with this approach. You may decide to keep a journal or small notebook with all of your usernames and passwords in it. This is not a good solution because you are not always in the same place when you create these passwords, or when you need to access your accounts. I access my accounts from my iPhone, my iPad, and my laptop, so I would have to carry the notebook with me all the time. But it isn’t practical, or safe, to carry this information around with you. Recording this information in something like Evernote (which was my solution) doesn’t solve the problem either. You can access Evernote from all your devices, so you can always record new passwords and access other ones. But, what if someone cracks your Evernote password? To ensure that your passwords remain secure, don’t write them down.

5. Use a password manager or other device
I have at least 80 different online accounts. For each of these accounts, I need to come up with a unique, secure, complex password, and I have to remember each password and which account it goes with. This is daunting! Since it is almost impossible to memorize different secure passwords for each of the services that I need to log into, a password manager may be a good solution. There are many tools out there (1Password, LastPass, and KeePass) that allow you to record your passwords in a single place. Most password managers also help you to generate secure passwords, fill in forms, and safely store these passwords. There are however a few drawbacks, however. First of all, password managers keep your data on their servers. The data is safe, but what if the server is down and you can’t access your passwords? Password managers usually let you store your data in a cloud based service like DropBox, which you can access from anywhere. But what if someone cracks your Dropbox password? And, all these options require a password to access your information. So, if someone cracks does crack your password, they have all of your other passwords, and you are worse off than before.

The best password manager is one that allows you to do all of these things, plus keep an encrypted copy of your password database locally (like on a USB thumb drive) that can be accessed without the use of a password, like myIDkey. MyIDkey does everything these other password managers do, but also uses biometric authentication (your fingerprint) to secure your data, and voice activation to retrieve it. And it has military grade AES 256-bit encryption to protect your passwords, and any other documents you’d like to store locally. It is a very powerful tool to protect your online security.

Although Bill Gates predicted the demise of the password several years ago, it’s still too early to write the obituary. Most experts agree that the password is here to stay, at least for the near future. Every day the list of passwords and pin numbers we are required to create and remember grows larger. With each website security breach where passwords are stolen and data is released, crackers get faster at cracking our passwords. Using these five steps will help to protect your passwords and your personal information.