How's your cyber hygiene?

fear, someone has your back Poor ‘cyber hygiene’? Never

THE US Department of Homeland Security estimates that 90 percent of cybersecurity incidents happen because of defects in the code or design of software.

In 2019, more than 17,000 software vulnerabilities were discovered — a 300 percent increase within a decade. Vicarius, founded in Jerusalem in 2016 by IT experts Michael Assraf, Roi Cohen and Yossi Ze'evi, is one of the companies offering proactive “attack mitigation” strategies.

Using machine learning, the firm’s Vulnerability Assessment (VA) technology detects exposures in software — before hacks occur. The company has announced seed funding of $5m in a funding round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), with Innovation Hub and Goldbell also investing. The funding will expand Vicarius’ international growth and operating scale, and allow the construction of new offices and product offerings.

Michael Assraf, CEO and cofounder, said Vicarius’ algorithm predicts vulnerabilities and potential “zero-days” based on attack scenarios.

Its TOPIA technology patches vulnerabilities and offers interim threat protection for target areas thus far unaddressed to patch latent security gaps. This preemptive approach is ideal for organisations with poor “cyber hygiene”, says Assraf.

Gadi Porat of JVP Cyber Labs said the new approach safeguards any software without involving the vendor or IT teams. After a decade of limited technological breakthrough in this field, Vicarius offers a pioneering solution to identify, manage and predict software vulnerabilities, he said.

Vicarius’ US team will be based in the JVP International NYC Cyber Centre.

The company claims to be the first in the detection of software vulnerabilities before a hack takes place.

The system prioritises threats based on the business context, and automatically protects the software — with or without installing security patches.

Vicarius was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in the JVP Media Quarter in Jerusalem. Jerusalem Venture Partners is a venture capital fund which has to date raised $1.4bn across nine funds, and has been listed as one of the world’s top-10 consistently performing VC firms.