Many companies within cybersecurity focus on fortifying invisible walls to keep hackers and their malware – malicious software – out of enterprises' systems.
But what happens once a sophisticated hacker successfully breaks into the system and begins meddling?
Cambridge and Israeli startup Cybereason seeks to put a stop to the security breach and cybercrime in real-time. The company launches out of stealth on Tuesday with the announcement of its cutting-edge platform and a raise of $4.6 million in Series A from Charles River Ventures to take said platform to market.
"There's a gap between the penetration and when these guys enter the building, to the point in time when people recognize the damage being done," explained Cybereason Co-founder and CEO Lior Div. "We don't know where he's going, but to prevent the damage we need to look for the action and the intent."
What differentiates Cybereason is that, rather than trying to keep malware out, the company's platform attacks malops – or malicious operations – once the invasive scripts have already entered the system. The Cybereason platform continuously monitors and automatically detects any unusual actions within the systems of the enterprise to recognize the hacker's intent for the disruptive malware and stop him in his tracks.
"What does it matter if you know what the tools are or not? But if you're able to understand the actions or the intent, you will be able to track it down," added Div.
Once the anomalies are identified, the platform pushes an easily digestible report on the platform that permits those poorly versed in the intricacies of cybersecurity to comprehend. The malicious activities are summed in various graphs and visualizations, imposed upon a timeline to give companies a sense of the hacker's path of travel within the system – essentially creating a movie trailer of the malops within their system.
The company, which works out of Kendall Square's One Broadway building a floor above the Cambridge Innovation Center, was founded by a highly advanced team of four experts from the Israeli intelligence agency, all of which have deep-knowledge and firsthand experience in reverse engineering complex hacking problems. With some Series A in the bank, however, the startup plans to bring on a ton of top engineering talent.
"We're looking for a lot of people," noted the CEO. "If there were 20 people who were qualified, we would probably hire them all right now."
