Securing the billions of connected devices that are expected to come online in the next few years will pose an unprecedented challenge for IT  professionals. Fortunately, however, the issue is already drawing attention from a number of vendors looking to gain a head-start on the market. The newest name on the list is Senrio Inc., a Portland-based startup that exited stealth today with a platform designed to automate threat mitigation operations at the edge of the network.

The software can be deployed as part of a pre-configured appliance, in a virtual machine or even embedded into another application depending on what the situation demands. Once it’s up and running, Senrio automatically maps out the devices in the section of a company’s infrastructure it’s tasked with protecting, which achieves two goals. First, the feature removes the possibility of administrators accidently overlooking an endpoint that might cause problems further down the line. And second, it provides the ability to detect existing security loopholes.

Senrio’s algorithms scan the devices on a company’s network for software vulnerabilities and configuration problems that might be exploited by hackers. Meanwhile, a passive monitoring component records the behavior patterns of each device to understand what constitutes normal usage. When a sensor sends data to an unknown server or an industrial control system carries out an unusual operation, the startup’s platform can automatically forward the incident to the appropriate breach prevention mechanisms in a company’s environment.

Senrio says that customers are able to integrate their deployments with a wide range of popular firewalls, intrusion detection systems and SIEMs. The startup sees its system finding use mainly in industrial and medical settings with a lot of sensitive Internet-connected hardware, but it could potentially also come handy on the consumer side. After, the smart appliances that are starting to make their way into the modern household will also require tight security to prevent hackers from compromising consumer privacy.

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