Today, I’m thrilled to announce JC2 Ventures‘ investment in Balbix, a cybersecurity startup that is taking a game-changing approach to address the most fundamental cybersecurity challenges of today. We couldn’t be more excited to support Balbix as they strive to digitally secure businesses, governments and citizens alike.
Cybersecurity threats are evolving faster than we could have ever imagined. Our computer networks are consistently being subverted by bad guys. Cyber-insecurity is the number one problem threatening our software-fueled economy, and it also has deep public and national safety implications.
When I first met Gaurav Banga, CEO and Founder of Balbix, I was extremely exhilarated by his unique big picture perspective of these challenges in the industry and the need to evolve – fast. Balbix looks at cyber as a battlefield of information fighting information.
Why is securing the enterprise hard?
The number of points on the attack surface of an enterprise (each of which represents a potential cyber vulnerability) is massive. Some of these vulnerabilities are critical, others are less important or even theoretical, but still important to secure all the same. Continuously analyzing the attack surface and all the information it holds is not an easy task – and that’s on top of the fact that the deep technical nature of security has made it harder than ever to deliver relevant information. Many businesses do not have a good understanding of this and as a result are leaving themselves wide open to an attack or breach.
On the other hand, attackers are quite easily able to find some vulnerability information from the very large enterprise attack surface. This allows them to successfully perpetuate a breach and take advantage of sensitive information about your company, its clients, and its employees. In simple terms, the adversary is mostly winning the battle of converting information about our vulnerabilities into action.
Using AI to analyze the attack surface and decrease breach risk
Under Gaurav’s leadership, Balbix is using deep learning and other advanced AI algorithms to accurately, continuously and comprehensively measure the enterprise attack surface. This allows the team to predict how and where breaches are likely to happen – and then help clients better prepare and protect themselves. That’s because Balbix prioritizes and prescribes the best mitigating steps that are likely to have the biggest impact on improving cyber-resilience – thereby helping enterprises avoid breaches.
Historically, in most areas of human activity, accurate measurement resulting in actionable insights have been key to progress. As today’s CEOs, boards and national leaders struggle with the cost and complexity of cyber-defending their organizations with dozens of point products, they should be asking questions about how to accurately and systematically measure and manage their overall cyber-breach risk.
Balbix’s opportunity
Balbix has a very innovative approach to measuring the enterprise attack surface and providing cyber-defenders with insights and prioritized actions to reduce breach risk. With their technology, there is hope that cyber defenders can actually get ahead of the adversary. I am very impressed with the drive and intellectual horsepower of the Balbix management team, as well as the deep satisfaction and energetic support of their early customers and partners. The company’s potential impact on the market is exponential, and I look forward to mentoring Gaurav and supporting Balbix.