Darktrace

Darktrace is an AI company that specialises in cyber defense. The company was established in 2013 and is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and San Francisco, US with over 44 offices worldwide.

Darktrace

Background

Darktrace was founded in 2013, in a collaboration between British intelligence agencies and Cambridge University mathematicians.[1] Its Enterprise Immune System technology uses AI and unsupervised machine learning to autonomously detect and take action against cyber-threats across all diverse digital environments, including cloud and virtual environments, Internet of Things, and industrial control systems.[2]

Darktrace is backed by several advisors and investors from the technology, business, and cyber security domains. The company's advisory board includes Alan Wade, former CIO of the CIA and Lord Evans of Weardale KCB, former Director-General of the British security service MI5.[3]

The board of directors is chaired by Robert Webb QC, former General Counsel of Rolls Royce and British Airways.[4] Twelve of the company’s 20 directors, including chief executive Poppy Gustafsson, used to work at HP Autonomy.[5]

Since the company's inception in 2013, its technology has been deployed more than 9,000 times across 5 continents. Darktrace now has over 900 employees around the world.[6]

In September 2018, Darktrace reached a valuation of $1.65 billion, reaching unicorn status.[7][8] The company earned $78 million in revenue for the year ending June 2018.[9]

Darktrace Enterprise Immune System

Darktrace's Enterprise Immune System uses proprietary machine learning and AI algorithms to build a so-called "pattern of life" for every network, device, and user within an organization. It then employs correlation techniques to classify and cross-reference these models, establishing a highly accurate understanding of 'normal activity' within that particular environment.[10]

From this evolving understanding of 'normal', it can then detect potential threats as they emerge in real time.[11] It is a self-contained system and does not rely on rules, signatures, or prior assumptions of known threats. The technology's total time to install is around one hour and results are produced immediately, without tuning or configuration.[12]

The Enterprise Immune System further employs an autonomous response technology, Antigena, which allows networks to take instant and autonomous action against in-progress cyber-attacks. Antigena takes targeted action, for example slowing down or stopping a compromised connection or device, in order to neutralize threats without impacting normal business operations.[13]

One end user,[14] Michael Sherwood at City of Las Vegas commented, "Darktrace Antigena is the only automated response technology that is capable of fighting the most important battles for us. Using Darktrace's AI, we can now stop never-before-seen threats in their tracks, allowing us to remain uniquely proactive in the face of a rapidly-changing threat landscape." [15]

The product also visualizes network activity on a user interface, called the 'Threat Visualizer', which makes the network and any detected anomalies fully searchable, and provides comprehensive visibility of both traditional and non-traditional IT.[16]

Darktrace Industrial

In November 2017, Darktrace launched a new business unit – Darktrace Industrial[17] – dedicated to fighting threats in industrial and SCADA networks. Darktrace Industrial uses AI specifically developed to detect cyber-threats and latent vulnerabilities within OT and IT environments. Darktrace Industrial works by learning 'normal' across a range of OT environments, providing the same form of protection for radically different technologies and deployment types, from decades-old PLCs to distributed sensors and the Industrial Internet of Things.

References

1. Hall, Susan. (5 January 2017). "Darktrace Automates Network Security Through Machine Learning." The New Stack. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
2. Magee, Tamlin (6 March 2017). "Church of England puts stop to ransomware with Darktrace." Computerworld UK. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
3. "Advisory Board." Darktrace.com. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
4. "Board of Directors." darktrace.com. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
5. "Inside Darktrace, the UK’s $1.65bn cyber security start-up." Retrieved 10 October 2018.
6. "Losses widen at security start-up Darktrace as it embarks on hiring spree". The Telegraph. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
7. Browne, Ryan (2018-09-26). "Cybersecurity start-up Darktrace raises $50 million and is now worth $1.65 billion". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
8. Fox-Brewster, Thomas. "From The Olympics To A Unicorn: How 'Cyber Immune System' Darktrace Hit A $1.3BN Valuation". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
9. Brewster, Thomas (2020-02-06). "Skeletons In The Closet: $2 Billion Cybersecurity Firm Darktrace Haunted By Characters From HP's Failed Autonomy Deal". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
10. Hall, Susan. (5 January 2017). "Darktrace Automates Network Security Through Machine Learning." The New Stack. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
11. Greene, Tim (9 March 2017). “Darktrace finds more attacks, cuts response time, saves money for Blackhawk Network.” Network World. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
12. Hall, Susan. (5 January 2017). "Darktrace Automates Network Security Through Machine Learning." The New Stack. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
13. Kobie, Nicole (4 April 2017). “Darktrace’s AI is now automatically responding to hacks – and stopping them.” WIRED. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
14. Conger, Kate. (12 May 2017). “Las Vegas taps AI for cyber security help.” TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
15. Quested, Tony (7 April 2017). “New Weapon from Darktrace in AI arms race.” Business Weekly. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
16. Hamblen, Matt. (5 Dec 2016). “Behavior analytics tools for cybersecurity move into enterprises.” Computerworld. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
17. "Darktrace Industrial Uses Machine Learning to Identify Cyber Campaigns Targeting Critical Infrastructure". www.darktrace.com. Retrieved 2018-06-20.