This Dayton AI cybersecurity platform aims to bring down $10 trillion in cybercrime costs

A Washington D.C.-based red team security services provider, working with fortune 500 companies, backed the creation of an artificially intelligence (AI) cybersecurity startup in Dayton. As the startup approaches the initial rollout of its AI platform, its founders aim to set a precedent for the industry amid increased cyber-attacks.

Alex Fry, founder of Strong Crypto Innovations (SCI) in Washington D.C., was approached by his director of operations Brett Ewing in 2021 with an idea to automate manual tasks in cybersecurity to focus on upskilling workers. The proposal, backed in investments from SCI, led the two to co-found Dayton startup Axe.AI LLC – a platform which would help companies find and understand security vulnerabilities amid other assurances.

The worst case scenario for the duo was the failure to operate both entities separately enabling SCI to solely utilize its enhanced automation for higher project intake with less manual strain on employees.

“That's the promise of AI that so many people, I think, are afraid of is that you will automate jobs out of existence,” Fry said. “But I would argue that maybe there are jobs that that human beings shouldn't be forced to do if they're repetitive enough, and tools could do better, faster and more accurately.”

Ewing, a native Daytonian, said he chose his hometown as the headquarters of Axe.AI to take advantage of the state’s financial incentives provided to tech companies and the network of support from The Hub as they develop their AI platform.

The Axe.AI platform shows companies their vulnerabilities and qualifications through the calculation of an AXESS Score. The score is a combination of four assessment layer results and a proprietary scoring algorithm using hundreds of risk factors outside of technical controls including history, training and response:

Ewing said a 900 is a perfect score and most companies should be aiming for a 600 or 700. If a company wants to increase its score and tighten security, they can pursue solutions help through SCI or another provider.

Amid base security assessments, offered as single point in time or continuous monitoring, Ewing believes their system will also be used to avoid major losses during mergers and acquisitions.

“Marriott Hotels because one of the largest hacks of all time,” Ewing said. “A couple years ago they acquired another hotel chain and in acquiring that hotel chain, they acquired the fact that they were compromised.”

Eventually, Axe.AI also hopes to increase its reach to insurance providers, utilizing their score to determine premiums and setting an evidence-based precedent rather than guessing.

Cyberattacks are increasing and the cost to businesses is skyrocketing

85% of organizations suffered at least one cyberattack in the preceding 12 months, according to the 2023 Data Protection Trends Report. In 2021, the average cost of a data breach was $4.2 million, according to IBM. And the next five years are set to see a 15% increase in cybercrime costs reaching $10.5 trillion by 2025.

With a high percentage of companies waiting until they experience an attack to buy cyber insurance, the damage will already be done, even affecting the likely hood of a repeat customer to take their business elsewhere.

Small businesses are under even higher threat.

In 2020 alone, small businesses faced over 700,000 attacks, totaling $2.8 billion in damages, according to Microsoft.

Ewing said cybercriminals see smaller businesses as more lucrative targets than large enterprises. Small to midsize businesses are easier to access, have fewer security protections, and attacking multiple at once presents the opportunity to receive significant financial gain without much media or law enforcement attention.

“Entities that didn't used to think about cybersecurity are now having to,” Ewing said. “A lot of these systems 10, 20, 30 years old and there's a lot of money that has to be spent to secure these people."

The rising popularity of Chat GPT and its accompanied open algorithm is one way businesses may open themselves up to security vulnerabilities in 2023, Ewing warned.

“It’s the fastest growing security vulnerability in 2023,” Ewing said. “People are putting confidential proprietary data through open AI models, and now that’s all just in the public. Most people don't understand that.”

The future of Axe.AI

Ewing pictures the next five to seven years to be consistent growth for the company. He credited his estimation to the startup’s growth during the economic downturn which he believes will only skyrocket in an upturn, especially amid the anticipated increase of cyber-attacks.

“We are excited about the potential impact our services can have in ensuring robust cybersecurity measures for organizations across various sectors,” Ewing said.

Axe.AI’s focus for the remainder of 2023 is taking its cyber baseline and vulnerability assessment offerings from proof of concept to a web UI-driven platform offering, which they hope to rollout in the next 16 months with the help of pilot customers. The startup is also actively seeking to win an SBIR contract to fund development of the AI-infused penetration testing and compliance auditing services.

Axe.AI was a Launch Dayton Tech Cohort Champion, Dayton Start-up Week Technology Pitch Competition Runner-Up and a UD Flyer Pitch Competition Semi-Finalist. The startup has received support from various regional entities including The Entrepreneur Center, Launch Dayton, Parallax Advanced Research, AFRL Small Business Hub, SSD Law, Dayton Children's Hospital and Sinclair Community College.

Axe.AI LLC

Service: Automated, AI calculated cybersecurity assessment platform

Employees: Six (Plan to hire two in the next year)

Founded: 2021

Headquarters: The Hub in downtown Dayton