123Fab #9
1 topic, 2 key figures, 3 startups to draw inspiration from
Cybersecurity in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, cyber threats were already increasing exponentially — expected to reach 4 million threat types by 2025, according to ITU News. But the global pandemic has catalyzed the creation of an ideal environment for cybercriminals, taking advantage of the less secure wireless networks in use and the chaos and anxiety associated with the pandemic.
Cyber attacks have reached unprecedented levels with almost 1M phishing and website scams registered by Google during the first three months of 2020 alone. And big tech companies, hospitals, international and national organizations, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations and NASA, were massively targeted by ransomware attacks during the pandemic, with a spike of 300% additional phishing and malware attacks across their network infrastructures.
Breach attempts are increasingly sophisticated and complex, which raises many questions about security and privacy issues in the highly connected environment we live in. Cybersecurity investments are rising each year, reaching $10bn invested in privacy and security companies in 2019, compared to $1.7bn in 2010, according to a recent Crunchbase query.
In order to better resist cybercriminal attacks, startups are developing specific technologies: biometrics with fingerprint and facial recognition to ensure strong authentication, encryption 2.0 to secure data and storage, automated testing to ensure the security of software and operating systems and artificial intelligence to detect and prevent the risk of cyber attacks. With the rise of these new protection and security technologies, related business models are emerging, such as Encryption-as-a-service, Authentication-as-a-service, Assessment-as-a-service and even white hackers to test the vulnerability of your system.
2 Key Figures
1,1653 cybersecurity startups
received seed funding in the last twelve months
Market size worth $1.5tn in 2018
In 2018, the cybercrime economy was estimated to be worth $1.5 trillion, according to a study commissioned by Bromium.
3 startups to draw inspiration from
This week, we identified three startups that we can draw inspiration from: Senseon, Zero Networks and Semperis.
Senseon
Based in London, Senseon is a self-driving cyber defense platform using artificial intelligence in order to detect, investigate and respond to cyber threats. The startup has raised €5.8 million in February 2019.
Zero Networks
Zero Networks is an Israeli-based startup focusing on automating the development and enforcement of network access rules throughout an entire network.
Semperis
Semperis is a US-based startup developing enterprise identity protection and cyber resilience that enables companies to quickly recover from accidental and malicious damages on cloud or hybrid environments.
