Barrett Lyon

{{Short description|American businessman (born 1978)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use American English|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox scientist | image = BarrettLyon-FreeImage.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1978|3|18|df=y}} | field = Computer science | work_institutions = {{ubl|Prolexic Technologies|BitGravity|Opte Project|XDN|Defense.Net}} | known_for = Opte Project }}

'''Barrett Gibson Lyon''' (born March 18, 1978) is an American Internet entrepreneur,<ref name="ZDNET">{{cite web |title=Barrett Lyon: Internet Influencer |first=Richard |last=Stiennon |url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/threatchaos/?p=350 |date=2006-06-26 |publisher=Zdnet |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512020310/http://blogs.zdnet.com/threatchaos/?p=350 |archivedate=2008-05-12 }}</ref> security researcher,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Newman |first=Lily Hay |title=A Trippy Visualization Charts the Internet's Growth Since 1997 |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/story/opte-internet-map-visualization/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> and a former hacker.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Neuman |first1=Scott |title=5 Questions, Answers About The Megaupload Case |website=NPR |date=January 20, 2012 |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/01/20/145529027/five-questions-answers-about-the-megaupload-case}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fighting Cybercrime, One Digital Thug At A Time |website=NPR |date=January 26, 2010 |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/122958695}}</ref>

==Early life and education== The son of a lawyer, Lyon was raised in Auburn, California.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/14 14] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> Although he initially struggled in school due to dyslexia, in middle school he became fascinated with computers. He soon found that the methods he used to overcome dyslexia allowed him to quickly gain expert knowledge of computers.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/15 15] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> While in high school, he set up Linux servers to host webpages for friends and also managed his school's computer network.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/16 16] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> In 1995, while investigating a possible vulnerability in Network Solutions he accidentally caused AOL's website to go down for three days.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/17 17] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> After high school, Lyon enrolled at California State University, Sacramento, and studied philosophy and photography.

==Opte Project== Lyon is the creator of the Opte Project, which is an Internet mapping project that seeks to make an accurate representation of the extent of the Internet using visual graphics. The project was started in October 2003 in an effort to provide a useful Internet map with open-source code. The project has gathered support worldwide and is part of the catalogs of the Boston Museum of Science<ref>{{cite web | title=Mapping the World Around Us | url=http://www.mos.org/exhibits_shows/current_exhibits%26d%3D213 | publisher=Museum of Science | access-date=2008-02-17 | archive-date=2012-06-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624061506/http://www.mos.org/exhibits_shows/current_exhibits%26d%3D213 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and The Museum of Modern Art.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Collection | url=http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A33129&page_number=1&template_id=6&sort_order=1 | publisher = Museum of Modern Art}}</ref>

==Prolexic== While working part-time in college for a small network security company, Lyon worked on defending websites against Denial of Service attacks.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/20 20] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> He soon decided to start Prolexic Technologies to specifically focus on defending websites against such attacks.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/23 23] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> His initial customers were online casinos which were facing extortionist threats from operators of Denial of Service attacks. After helping bring a Russian hacker to justice, Lyon's publicity allowed him to gain many new clients from outside of the gambling industry.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/67 67] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> He soon began giving talks about botnets and DoS attacks at industry meetings.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Menn | first1 = Joseph | title = Fatal System Error | location = New York | publisher = Public Affairs Books | year = 2010 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fatalsystemerror00menn/page/70 70] | isbn = 978-1-58648-748-5 }} </ref> Lyon eventually left Prolexic to start BitGravity.<ref>{{ cite web | url=https://venturebeat.com/2006/12/10/bitgravity-wants-to-shake-up-video-delivery-industry/ | title=BitGravity to shake up video delivery | last=Marshall | first=Matt | work=VentureBeat| date=11 December 2006 }}</ref> Prolexic was later sold to Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network based in Boston for $370 million.<ref>{{cite web | title= Akamai buying Prolexic for about $370 million | agency=Associated Press | date=2013-12-02 | url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/akamai-buying-prolexic-370-million-113523849.html | publisher=AP}}</ref>

== Netography == Lyon was the CEO of his startup Netography, ,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-06 |title=Florida teen arrested after embarrassingly simple cyberattack on Miami schools |url=https://gizmodo.com/teen-hacker-charged-with-paralyzing-miami-schools-in-em-1844968182 |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=Gizmodo |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Zurier |first=Steve |date=2020-08-28 |title=NYSE not susceptible to takedown like New Zealand exchange |url=https://www.scmagazine.com/news/content/nyse-not-susceptible-to-takedown-like-new-zealand-exchange |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=SC Media |language=en}}</ref> until intrusion detection pioneer and creator of Snort, Martin Roesch was appointed in August 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kirby |first=Stephen Babcock, Donte |date=2021-09-20 |title=Power Moves: Sourcefire founder Martin Roesch is the new CEO of Annapolis-based Netography |url=https://technical.ly/startups/martin-roesch-netography-eagb-zerofox-bwell/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=Technical.ly |language=en}}</ref> Roesch as CEO and chair of the Board, Lyon as Chief Architect, and co-founder Dan Murphy as CTO, then raised $45M from Andreessen Horowitz and SYN Ventures. The company was later acquired by the cybersecurity company, Vectra AI in 2025<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/embargo-1002-9am-et-vectra-ai-snaps-up-netography-to-fortify-multi-cloud-muscle-a-29609|title=Vectra AI Snaps Up Netography to Fortify Multi-Cloud Muscle|last=Novinson|first=Michael|date=2025-10-02|work=BankInfoSecurity}}</ref>.

==DoS investigation== Lyon has been called a hero<ref>{{cite news | title=Fighting Cybercrime, One Digital Thug At A Time | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122958695 | publisher = NPR|work=Fresh Air}}</ref> for his work tracking Russian denial of service attack extortion groups. His work has been featured around the globe<ref>{{cite magazine | title=The Zombie Hunters | first=Evan | last=Ratliff | date=2005-10-10 | url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/10/051010fa_fact | magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> and is featured in the book ''Fatal System Error''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fatal System Error |first=Joseph |last=Menn |date=2010-01-26 |url=http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586487485 |publisher=PublicAffairs Books |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107105559/http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586487485 |archivedate=2010-01-07 }}</ref> He provided details and helped coordinate with multinational law enforcement groups which resulted in the capture of Ivan Maksakov, Alexander Petrov, and Denis Stepanov.<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.csoonline.com/article/2118109/fraud-prevention/how-a-bookmaker-and-a-whiz-kid-took-on-a-ddos-based-online-extortion-attack.html | title=How a Bookmaker and a Whiz Kid Took On a DDOS-based Online Extortion Attack | date=2005-05-01 | first=Scott | last=Berinato | work = CSO Magazine}}</ref> The three men were at the heart of an extortion ring which was extorting money from banks, Internet casinos, and other web-based businesses. Reported damages caused by Maksakov, Petrov, and Stenanov range in the tens of millions of dollars. On October 8, 2007, Maksakov, Petrov, Stenanov were found guilty and sentenced to eight years in prison in the Russian Federation with a 100,000 ruble penalty.<ref>{{ cite web | date=2006-10-04 | url=http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=709912 | title=Eight Years for Extorting Millions | work=Kommersant | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016130145/http://kommersant.com/page.asp?id=709912 | archivedate=2007-10-16 }}</ref> Lyon also appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fighting Cybercrime, One Digital Thug At A Time |website=NPR |date=January 26, 2010 |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/122958695}}</ref>

==Business interests== After leaving Prolexic, Lyon co-founded of BitGravity, a content delivery network and served as its chief technology officer. BitGravity was founded to provide scaled video content to replace traditional TV. Its early customers included YouTube, ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Fastest-Growing Social Network for Mobile Phones | date=November 10, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDFdezP4V0 |access-date=2023-04-14 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.zdnet.com/article/bitgravity-challenges-akamai-and-limelight/ BitGravity challenges Akamai and Limelight] ZDNet, Dan Farber. September 30, 2007</ref> While at BitGravity, to lessen billing confusion regarding the definition of a gigabyte, Lyon defined an accepted billing amount, coined as the BarretByte.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Baretbyte |url=http://www.blyon.com/blog/index.php/2010/07/20/the-barretbyte/ |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726031628/http://www.blyon.com/blog/index.php/2010/07/20/the-barretbyte/ |archivedate=2010-07-26 }}</ref>

Lyon left BitGravity in June 2009. BitGravity was acquired in January 2011 by Tata Communications.<ref>[http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/01/11/tata-acquires-bitgravity-for-content-delivery/ Tata Acquires BitGravity for Content Delivery]</ref>

In 2009 with funding from Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose, he founded XDN. XDN's first products provide businesses with greater control over existing content delivery networks by allowing them to use CDN's based on factors like price and service.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63M3BN20100423 Cloud computing startup 3Crowd raises $6.6 million] Reuters, Alastair Goldfisher. April 23, 2010</ref> In November 2012, XDN was acquired by Fortinet.<ref>[http://blog.streamingmedia.com/the_business_of_online_vi/2013/01/fortinet-acquires-cdn-provider-xdn.html Fortinet Acquires CDN and App Delivery Platform Provider XDN]</ref>

Lyon then founded Defense.Net in December 2012 to build a DDoS defense network for the modern Internet.<ref>[http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/080613-defense-net-272464.html Start-up Defense.Net debuts with anti-DDoS service] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031144649/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/080613-defense-net-272464.html |date=October 31, 2013 }}</ref> In 2014, the company was named one of the 100 Hottest Private Companies in North America by Red Herring<ref name="Red Herring">{{Cite web |url=http://www.redherring.com/events/rhna/2014-red-herring-north-america-winners/|title= 2014 Red Herring North America: Winners |date=20 April 2014 |work=Red Herring}}</ref> and acquired shortly after by F5 purportedly for between $50 and $100 million.<ref name="Novet">{{Cite web |url=https://venturebeat.com/2014/05/22/network-company-f5-buys-ddos-prevention-startup-defense-net/|title= Network company F5 buys DDoS prevention startup Defense.net |last=Novet |first=Jordan |date=22 May 2014 |publisher=VentureBeat}}</ref>

Lyon formerly worked as Head of Security Research and Development for US telecommunications firm,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-06-13 |title=Cyber attack on Mexico campaign site triggers election nerves |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-mexico-election-cyber-idUKKBN1J93C0 |access-date=2023-04-14}}</ref> Neustar.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.neustar.biz/about-us/news-room/press-releases/2017/lyon|title = Neustar Hires Barrett Lyon to Head Research and Development of Security Solutions}}</ref> He has operated a Laser Production company<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://megalasers.us/ |title=Megalasers |access-date=2019-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902171532/https://www.megalasers.us/ |archive-date=2018-09-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> along with designing camping equipment for Alien Buffalo.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} Recently he announced a new venture Netography and currently serves as Chief Architect,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-15|title=Martin Roesch joins Netography as CEO|url=https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/16/netography-martin-roesch/|access-date=2021-09-23|website=Help Net Security|language=en-US}}</ref> with seed funding from Andreesson Horowitz and Mango Capital.

Lyon was an investor in Sr. Pago, which was acquired by Konfio in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lawler |first=Ryan |date=2014-07-14 |title=With $1 Million In Funding, Sr.Pago Is Ready To Serve Mexico's Unbanked |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/14/srpago/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref> He is also a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barrett Lyon - IADAS |url=https://www.iadas.net/membership/bio/barrett-lyon/11535 |access-date=2023-04-14 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080122040450/http://www.blyon.com/ Barrett Lyon's web site] *[http://www.xdn.com/ Xchange Delivery Network] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20190807045137/http://www.bitgravity.com/ BitGravity, Inc.] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080913144216/http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2008/124651.html Demo God Awards Introduction of Bitgravity] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080806212820/http://revision3.com/rev3gazette/bitgravity/ Lyon interview with Revision3] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080822102039/http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/the-brains-behind-bitgravity-video-distribution-system Scobleizer TV video interview of Barrett Lyon] *[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122958695 Radio interview on NPR's Fresh Air] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20131031144649/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/080613-defense-net-272464.html Lyon Launched Defense.Net] *[https://www.netography.com Netography]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Barrett}} Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:American chief executives in technology Category:American chief technology officers Category:People from Auburn, California Category:Scholars and academics with dyslexia