AI for Enterprise Security

2023. Google brings generative AI to cybersecurity



Google has introduced Cloud Security AI Workbench, a suite of cybersecurity tools that uses a specialized AI language model called Sec-PaLM. This model is derived from Google's PaLM model but has been optimized for security purposes by incorporating security intelligence, such as research on software vulnerabilities, malware, threat indicators, and behavioral threat actor profiles. The Cloud Security AI Workbench offers various AI-powered tools, including Mandiant's Threat Intelligence AI, which uses Sec-PaLM to identify, summarize, and respond to security threats. VirusTotal, another Google property, will also utilize Sec-PaLM to help subscribers analyze and explain the behavior of malicious scripts. Additionally, Sec-PaLM will aid customers of Chronicle, Google's cloud cybersecurity service, in searching security events and engaging in "conservative" interactions with the results.


2023. DataDome, which uses AI to protect against bot-based attacks, raises $42M



As bots pose a significant threat to businesses by stealing content, inventory, and even committing fraud, it's not surprising that companies selling bot-fighting technology are receiving large investments. One such example is DataDome, which offers bot protection services for mobile apps, websites, and APIs and has raised $42 million in a Series C funding round. DataDome's platform uses machine learning to evaluate every request to a website, mobile app, or API, rather than relying on static rules to prevent bot-based threats. Other companies, such as Kasada, ThreatX, and PerimeterX, also use machine learning and proprietary platforms to combat online bots and prevent anomalous behavior in a fully automated manner.

2022. Securiti launches data security cloud with new funding $75M



Enter Securiti, a startup launched in 2019, originally with the idea of focusing on one aspect of data control, data privacy. But the company had the vision of building a broad platform of services to deal with not just privacy, but also data security, governance and compliance. Today, it launched its comprehensive data security cloud called DataControls Cloud, and announced a $75 million Series C. The idea behind the data security cloud is to provide a layer of data protection wherever the data lives, whether that’s in one of the big three cloud infrastructure players (AWS, Microsoft and Google), data infrastructure players like Snowflake or Databricks or a SaaS applications like Box or Salesforce.


2022. Google is acquiring security intelligence firm Mandiant for $5.4B



Google is to acquire security intelligence company Mandiant, giving it access to security data gathering capabilities, as well as a team of hundreds of security consultants. The company will become part of Google Cloud upon closing. Mandiant is on a mission to make every organization secure from cyber threats and confident in their readiness. Mandiant's uniquely dynamic view of the attack lifecycle combines machine, adversary and operational cyber threat intelligence to understand and proactively protect against the relevant threats facing your organization.


2022. Virtual CISO startup Cynomi raises $3.5M to help SMBs automate cybersecurity



Cynomi, an Israeli cybersecurity startup that has built a virtual CISO platform for SMBs and service providers, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Typically, virtual CISO — or vCISO — services take the form of an outsourced or on-demand security practitioner that works as a remote, part-time contractor to offer cybersecurity expertise and guidance to organizations. Cynomi’s platform removes the human component and instead uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to emulate a human CISO and automate previously manual operations.


2021. Cequence adds $60M Series C to improve API security



Cequence Security that has just closed a $17 million Series B was concentrating on security to protect business logic. While it still does that, it has shifted focus to API security, and today it announced a $60 million Series C. The startup was seeing more vulnerabilities through APIs with customers, and they began to shift the focus of the Cequence analytics engine to find those kinds of vulnerabilities. Cequence looks at approximately 150 data points to determine if the activity is something to worry about.


2021. Attack surface management startup CyCognito raises $100M



CyCognito, a startup helping to prevent cyber attacks, has raised $100 million Series C. Like any attack surface management company, CyCognito is looking at the range of assets a company has and looking for gaps in security, but the comprehensiveness of the company’s approach is what differentiates it from the pack. It's leveraging machine learning-based, attack surface management to understand what’s out there. And it's the first company to automate security testing at the scale of millions of assets


2021. Voxel raises $3M to make warehouse security cameras more safety conscious



Warehouses and distribution centers are already blanketed in security cameras, but unless someone is actively monitoring them, a lot of the footage goes unexamined. Voxel wants to change that by inviting its on-premises pixel-peeping machine-vision robots to take a closer look, notifying managers when something isn’t up to snuff. The company just raised a $3 million seed round to continue building its tech and rolling out beyond its first set of beta customers. The company runs a hybrid architecture, where all the initial analysis and computer vision is done by adding an on-premises computer. If a safety event is detected, that is uploaded and made accessible on the SaaS online dashboard.


2020. FireEye acquires AI security expert Respond Software for $186M



Cybersecurity company FireEye has acquired Respond Software, a company that helps customers investigate and understand security incidents, while reducing the need for highly trained (and scarce) security analysts. FireEye had its eye on Respond’s Analyst product, which it plans to fold into its Mandiant Solutions platform. Like many companies today, FireEye is focused on using machine learning to help bolster its solutions and bring a level of automation to sorting through the data, finding real issues and weeding out false positives. The acquisition gives them a quick influx of machine learning-fueled software.


2020. Palo Alto Networks to acquire AI cybersecurity firm Expanse for $800M



Palo Alto Networks has acquired Expanse for $800 million. Expanse provides a service to help companies understand and protect their attack surface, where they could be most vulnerable to attack. It works by giving the security team a view of how the company’s security profile could look to an attacker trying to gain access. The plan is to fold Expanse into Palo Alto’s Cortex Suite, an AI-driven set of tools designed to detect and prevent attacks in an automated way. Expanse should provide Palo Alto with a highly valuable set of data to help feed the AI models.


2020. Hunters raises $15M for its AI-based threat-hunting platform



Hunters, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup that helps enterprises defend themselves from intruders and analyze attacks, has raised a $15 million Series A funding round from Microsoft and other investors. The company’s SaaS platform basically automates the threat-hunting processes, which has traditionally been a manual process. The general idea here is to take as much data from an enterprise’s various networking and security tools to detect stealth attacks.