Cybersecurity is a growing interest in the 500 Startups community seeing as how Cyber threats are increasingly dangerous and widespread. The problem is no longer about simply detecting security threats–given the level of innovation that has gone into this space–but rather about responding to threats in a timely and accurate manner.
One company that is addressing the growing security problem is Penfield AI, and we’re excited at the team’s approach to managing security threats.
The Nuts & Bolts
Problem: Cybersecurity experts have claimed that AI would automate everything in a Security Operation Center (SOC), but as hackers constantly change their maneuvers, AI needs to keep up. With the spike in e-commerce and general Internet use during the COVID-19 outbreak, these threats have only amplified. Human intervention will continue to be required for sophisticated attacks in cyber defense, so the problem becomes: how can we blend human intelligence with AI optimization to better protect our businesses?
Solution: Instead of replacing Cybersecurity Analysts in SOCs with AI, Penfield.AI leverages human-machine intelligence in Cybersecurity to augment human capabilities for maximum efficiency and accuracy. Through its patent-pending ability to model analyst skill-set in real time, Penfield’s engine acts alongside analysts, enabling them to stop hackers up to 38% faster.
How 500 Met Penfield AI
We met Penfield AI while they were participating in the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a startup incubator in Toronto.
Penfield.AI started with two co-founders: CEO Tahseen Shabab holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering from the University of Waterloo and spent over 5 years working as a security consultant with IBM, Royal Bank of Canada, and more. Chief Scientist Hassan Khan has a Master’s in Computer Science from USC and a Ph.D. in Computer Security from the University of Waterloo. Since joining 500 Startups, they have grown, and continue to grow their team which is currently deploying within the intelligence sector.
Why Now?
While the problem of augmenting efficiencies in SOCs is not new, Penfield’s technology introduces human-machine intelligence to Cybersecurity processes to bridge the gap between human context and task automation, and potentially capture untapped efficiency gains. The pre-existing need for solutions in SOCs has been compounded by additional rises in the number and sophistication of threats inundating SOCs, Cybersecurity Analyst talent shortages, and the fact that pure automation tools do not always yield a return on investment for dynamic processes.
Future of Penfield AI
Penfield AI is looking to champion this new human-intelligence of Cybersecurity, and empower people to achieve their maximum potential in Security Operation Centers and make the world safer. To facilitate this vision, Penfield AI is growing its engineering and business teams.
You can learn more about Penfield AI at: https://www.penfield.ai.
If you would like to learn more about companies, sectors, and trends that we are excited about as well as receive invitations to exclusive previews, and expert roundtables, please sign up here.
Legal Disclaimers: 500 Startups programs (including accelerator programs), investor education services, strategic partnership consulting services and events are operated by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. (together with its affiliates, “500 Startups”) and the funds advised by 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. do not participate in any revenue generated by these activities. Such programs and services are provided for educational and informational purposes only and under no circumstances should any content provided as part of any such programs, services or events be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 startups or any of its affiliates.
The views expressed here are those of the individual 500 Startups personnel, or other individuals quoted and are not the views of 500 Startups or its affiliates. Certain information contained herein may have been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by 500 Startups. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, 500 Startups has not independently verified such information and makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of the information in this post or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements or links; 500 Startups has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation, offer to sell or solicitation to purchase any investment securities, or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by 500 Startups. (An offering to invest in an 500 Startups fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by 500 Startups, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results.
Charts and graphs provided herein are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Unless otherwise expressly stated, figures are based on internal estimates and have not been independently verified. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. All logos and trademarks of third parties referenced herein are the logos and trademarks of their respective owners and any inclusion of such trademarks or logos does not imply or constitute any approval, endorsement or sponsorship of 500 Startups by such owners.
Please see Section 2 of our Terms of Use for additional important information.
