MITRE announced on Monday that it has commercialized its intellectual property for Cyber SEAL to Highway Ventures to enable the scaling of technology to enhance critical infrastructure resilience. The Arkansas-based startup studio, in partnership with VentureWell, a non-profit focused on advancing innovation and entrepreneurship, launched iolite secure, a cybersecurity startup that leverages Cyber SEAL’s ability to detect and mitigate cyber-physical threats to minimize downtime in critical infrastructure.
Bridging the gap between government mission demands and industry solutions, MITRE tackles high-risk, cross-domain challenges that industry is either not yet positioned to address or where market demand and return on investment remain uncertain. MITRE will rapidly prototype technologies such as Cyber SEAL and then transition them to industry for scaling.
The collaboration exemplifies Highway Ventures’ mission to harness innovative technologies from research institutions like MITRE and transform them into commercially viable solutions.
“MITRE advances innovation with meaningful societal impact,” said Wen Masters, vice president of cyber technologies at MITRE. “By transferring our Cyber SEAL technology to iolite secure, we’re enabling a scalable, real-world solution to help industry and government safeguard critical infrastructure against evolving threats. Industry collaborations like this showcase how targeted federal investments enable technology transfer to drive impactful solutions for national security and economic stability.”
Cyber SEAL is a suite of tools for real-time attack detection, response, and threat emulation. Originally developed from the ground up at MITRE for tactical environments, this suite of tools has also been applied to enterprise IT networks.
MITRE mobilizes cross-disciplinary teams to de-risk critical needs, spin up targeted proofs of concept, and then hand off mature prototypes to industry for scaling. Cyber SEAL is an example of that effort. It enables cybersecurity engineers to harden and increase the resiliency of edge systems, helping to prevent, withstand, and recover from attacks.
Edge systems are typically remote or logically isolated and operate with SWaP (size, weight, and power) constraints and without built-in defenses. This unique design bridges the physical and cyber domains, empowering operators to respond to complex attacks with efficiency. Originally designed for military applications and funded by the federal government, its potential spans industries like critical infrastructure, supply chain logistics, and smart warehouses.
Lane Patterson, co-founder of Highway Ventures, credits MITRE’s expertise for the innovation behind Cyber SEAL’s success. “FFRDCs [federally funded research and development centers like the ones operated by MITRE] are where purposeful technology is born. Ideas are not constrained by fluctuating demands of the market, which allows them to explore and develop technologies that are truly transformative. Cyber SEAL was developed with a level of cyber sophistication that you just don’t find elsewhere. MITRE’s deep understanding of cyber-physical systems and their vulnerabilities made them the ideal partner for bringing this technology to market.”
Patterson envisions widespread adoption of iolite secure, particularly among organizations looking to secure their OT (operational technology) without sacrificing safety or availability.
iolite secure reduces reliance on cyber-savvy individuals and empowers the operator to maintain control of operations while working within the guardrails that security teams define.
“We’re committed to helping bold innovations cross the bridge from lab to market. iolite secure is a perfect example of what can happen when research institutions, visionary partners, and ecosystem builders come together,” said Tara Loomis, program director for federal innovation at VentureWell. “We’re proud to have supported the environment that brought this collaboration to life.”
For iolite secure CEO Briana Sullivan, working with MITRE has been a pivotal advantage. “When you’re dealing with something as sensitive as cybersecurity, having the expertise of an FFRDC is invaluable,” said Sullivan. “Their reputation for cyber expertise helps open doors and builds confidence in our customers. This credibility is particularly important when dealing with large enterprises and government entities, where security is paramount.”
