Upstream Solutions.

• Position: Risk Management

Upstream Solutions, a Minneapolis-based software firm, has developed a new application it calls an Inferential Risk Model tool. The IRM applies a statistical analysis to really understand the security and compliance risks a company faces, especially under the plethora of new laws, including Sarbanes-Oxley.

The eight-year-old company says the new product uses statistical analysis--gleaned from 15 years of information technology data--to determine the probability of risk to information assets. The outcome is a risk index, which serves as a bar for an organization to move on a scale of 0 (no risk) to 100 (maximum risk). Upstream Solutions then devises scenarios that will illustrate how a risk index can be reduced.

Art Drake, Upstream's Director of Business Assurance Services, says that customers can choose from a variety of options, from doing a baseline report to regular monitoring to detect changes. The company has been working since last year to refine the product with a couple...