We’re chatting today with Steve Bachenheimer, CEO of Kemesa, an Aventura-based technology company that has just launched a new product – Shop Shield – designed to combat identity theft on-line. Its patent-pending technology takes a fresh approach to protecting personal information necessary in any e-commerce transaction.

TOA: You have an impressive resume showing success with consumer products from National Foods to Proctor & Gamble. What got you into the technology arena and how is it different?

Steve Bachenheimer, CEO of Aventura-based Kemesa

Bachenheimer: There’s an interesting story that drove me to develop Shop Shield. A close friend’s daughter was actually arrested on drunk driving charges. The problem was that the perpetrator in question was not actually her, but someone who had stolen her identity, forged a drivers license with her name and address and gave it the arresting officer when she was pulled over. When the perpetrator failed to show up in court, the police came to my friend’s house and arrested his daughter. It took several years and thousands of dollars in legal fees to finally clear her name. It was then that I decided – there has to be a better way.

We developed Shop Shield with the understanding that you should be able to shop, pay bills and register at websites online without giving away your sensitive personal information.

While the development of Shop Shield is indeed quite technical, it is marketed toward a consumer audience, so many of the same principles that I’ve learned over my years as a consumer products guy still apply. We’ve also hired an excellent team of technical developers and engineers to support our efforts.

TOA: Shop Shield takes an interesting approach to the problem of identity security. What led you to this idea of deploying unique, anonymous -- artificial if you will – personal data to facilitate e-commerce?

Bachenheimer: When we first began developing Shop Shield, we did a lot of research on identity theft prevention. What we found again and again was that security and identity theft experts like the Identity Theft Resource Center’s Jay and Linda Foley and Gartner’s Avivah Litan always say that the only way to protect your personal information online, is to not give it out in the first place.

That statement really hit home for us. It served as the catalyst for us to develop a way to still shop, pay bills and register for websites online without giving away any of your personal information. Shop Shield works by replacing personal and financial information with anonymous, untraceable data each time a consumer makes a purchase online, pays a bill or registers at a website. With Shop Shield, personal information can’t be stolen, because it’s never revealed during the online transaction process.

TOA: It’s a tough competitive playing field with the likes of PayPal and McAfee offering products to combat identity theft. What advantage does Shop Shield have?

Bachenheimer: Shop Shield has a number of advantages over other products that claim to prevent identity theft online. As the chart below indicates, Shop Shield is accepted at any website, it never reveals email addresses, identity or financial information, it securely stores passwords, protects against phishing, blocks spam and it is available at an affordable price point, with an option for a free membership.

TOA: You’ve attracted some top talent and raised millions in angel financing, how are you going to define success?

Bachenheimer: One way we will define success is when financial institutions that we partner with see increased transaction volumes and reduced fraud costs and merchants feel confident handling large volumes of transactions, knowing that the risk of losing real customer data has been significantly decreased if not eliminated.

Moreover, we will define success as gaining broad consumer adoption. When enough people use Shop Shield that hackers and thieves no longer try to breech databases because they know that a large percentage of the information the database contains is anonymous, untraceable and useless to them, then we know we have succeeded.

TOA: Certainly one of the lessons of this Internet age is that work can be done anywhere. But Aventura is a long way from the technology and venture capital centers of Silicon Valley. What makes Aventura the place to launch this company?

Bachenheimer: I chose to launch the company in Aventura because it is my home, and it’s as good a place as any to run a technology company. We also have an office in Salt Lake City, Utah and have been able to recruit top talent in both areas. As you mention, it’s the Internet age and you no longer need to be located in Silicon Valley to own a tech company.

For talkofaventura.com’s earlier story on Shop Shield, go to: http://talkofaventura.com/2009/08/10/aventura-firm-debuts-cyber-security-product/

A 60-day free trial of Shop Shield for Firefox is available at www.ShopShield.net