Tag Archive for: startup

Startup Creates Simulator for Info-Warfare Ops

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JUST IN: Startup Creates Simulator for Info-Warfare Ops

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LONDON — A U.K. startup has introduced computer-based training software that simulates the information environment warfighters encounter during conflict.

 

London-based Conducttr recently released its Pulse training system that allows intelligence officers to participate in military exercises where they monitor local populations’ attitudes through social media and other platforms. 

 

The internet-based simulation exercises influence operations, also known as psychological operations, hybrid warfare, countering disinformation and counterterrorism, said Robert Pratten, CEO and founder of the company.

 

“People that work in intelligence, media operations, psy-ops, they don’t have an exercise environment. Now they do,” Pratten said April 27 on the sidelines of the IT2EC conference in London. 

 

Participants can log onto popular social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to look for simulated disinformation campaigns created by enemy operators. They can look for bots, inauthentic accounts and signs of “information laundering,” where operators push misinformation or bad news and cover their tracks by making look like it came from legitimate media sources.

 

“We can also simulate a cyber attack where we take your whole website down. What do you do now?” He said.

 

So called gray zone warfare — where nations operate below the threshold of armed conflict to create instability within rival nations — has been a hallmark of 21st century rivalries. Nations such as Russia have employed such tactics as disinformation operations with great success.

 

“If you have been following what’s happening in Ukraine, [President Volodymyr] Zelinsky has proven what it means to be a good communicator … This is the only platform able to simulate that situation,” Pratten said.

 

“People want to emulate what works and you can take those lessons and apply them in another conflict,” he added. 

 

The new product…

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Mobile security startup Zimperium acquired by Liberty Strategic Capital for $525M

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Mobile cybersecurity provider Zimperium Inc. today announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Liberty Strategic Capital in a transaction worth about $525 million.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the founder and managing partner of Liberty Strategic Capital, will become the chair of Zimperium’s board. Existing investor SoftBank Group Corp. is set to retain its stake in the startup following the acquisition.

Founded in 2010, Zimperium provides cybersecurity software that helps companies protect workers’ handsets from hacking attempts. The startup also offers a suite of tools that developers can use to build more secure mobile apps.

Zimperium’s software product for protecting employee devices is known as zIPS. It runs directly on workers’ handsets and uses machine learning to detect cybersecurity issues. Zimperium says zIPS can detect malware and other threats, as well as vulnerabilities such as insecure device settings that could lead to a data breach if left unaddressed.

Zimperium’s second offering is a suite of mobile development tools called MAPS. One of the tools in the suite enables developers to scan the code of their mobile apps for vulnerabilities regulatory compliance issues. Another component of MAPS can be used to equip apps with the ability to detect hacking attempts. 

The MAPS suite also includes tools for more specialized tasks, such as preventing hackers from extracting encryption keys. Accessing an app’s encryption key can allow hackers to decrypt and read user data. According to Zimperium, MAPS prevents breaches by turning the part of an app’s code that is responsible for protecting data into a form that can’t be reverse engineered by hackers. 

“There’s no question that the world is going mobile,” said Zimperium Chief Executive Officer Shridhar Mittal. “And as that happens, modern operating systems like Android and iOS are playing a more prominent role powering the devices people use in their personal and professional lives. But what many people don’t realize is that protecting these devices is much different from protecting traditional endpoints and requires a new approach.”

Zimperium has more than 7,000…

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Liberty Strategic Capital nabs majority stake in mobile security startup Zimperium for $525M – TechCrunch

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Liberty Strategic Capital, the private equity firm launched last year by former treasury secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, announced today that it is acquiring a majority stake in mobile security startup Zimperium for $525 million.

With Zimperium, the firm takes a dive into mobile security, which Mnuchin sees at the front line of cyber security today. As he points out with employees using their own devices for years now, companies need to have a way to secure them, even when they don’t control the device directly.

“We all need to increase our focus on the protection of mobile devices and applications. Liberty Strategic Capital is investing in Zimperium because they’ve shown that they can lead the way in this multibillion-dollar market,” he said in a statement announcing the deal.

The company covers three parts of the mobile market looking at device security, mobile applications security and mobile threat intelligence. In fact, last year the company discovered spyware called PhoneSpy in 23 Android apps designed to steal data. As TechCrunch’s Carly Page explained at the time of the news:

Researchers at mobile security firm Zimperium, which discovered PhoneSpy inside 23 apps, say the spyware can also access a victims’ camera to take pictures and record video in real time, and warned that this could be used for personal and corporate blackmail and espionage. It does this without a victim knowing, and Zimperium notes that unless someone is watching their web traffic, it would be difficult to detect.

The company didn’t share specific revenue figures, but reported that annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew 53%. Company CEO Shridhar Mittal is hoping that the investment will continue to drive that growth.

“We’ve helped leading public and private organizations across the globe strengthen mobile security, and as we enter a high growth phase to help even more organizations, Secretary Mnuchin and the team at Liberty Strategic Capital will be a tremendous asset to guide and propel our company forward,” Mittal said in a statement.

Under the terms of the deal, Softbank will own a minority stake in the company, Mnunchin will lead the company’s board of…

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The Singaporean Startup Expimont Building the Future of Website Security

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In a report by positive technologies, as much as 85 percent of the web applications had vulnerabilities that allow attacks against users. This is the figure that Singaporean startup Expimont wishes to combat.

“The internet has been expanding at an extraordinarily quick pace; however, cyber security has not managed to keep up,” says Expimont CEO Ivan Persson. He explains that the majority of web applications today were not designed with cyberthreats in mind and proceeds to state that this is a significant issue and is a threat to both companies and users alike.

Expimont has developed a SaaS solution that significantly reduces the chance of data theft and other cybercrime by identifying malicious requests and taking appropriate action before they reach their customers’ servers. In combination with this, they’ve developed a dashboard that allows its users to adjust security settings and view statistics regarding their protected websites.

Although there are undoubtedly many websites that were designed and secured against the threats of the time, Ivan says, most do not keep a dedicated security team in perpetuity. As a result, they will be susceptible to zero-day exploits and other new cyberthreats that pop up all the time.

“Using Expimont is more scalable, cost-effective, and reliable than on-premise solutions,” he says. “We’ve secured and accelerated dozens of web applications to date, and we’ve received great feedback.”

Today, companies are not left with many choices — they can opt for a dedicated security team, ignore the topic altogether, or go for a solution like that which Expimont provides. He explains that opting for a dedicated security team may allow for more specialized solutions though they’re in most cases extraordinarily costly and are not as reliable in the long term.

“To embrace the future, we will start accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method, and we stand behind the principle of privacy,” he concludes with.

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