Meet the startups confronting cybercrime
Summary
When Airbnb host Mario Soave started noticing that the guests renting out his New York properties through the home-sharing platform were illegally downloading music and videos on his WiFi network, he knew he had to take control of the situation.People were committing cybercrime (including downloading illegal pornography) on my property, Soave, the creator of Texas-based startup CleverFi, said Wednesday evening to a roomful of investors and peer startup founders inside the Softwerks warehouse in Ybor City. He hopes to execute an agreement with Airbnb, which has over 4 million hosts.Frustrations with the lack of cybersecurity was a similar theme with others in the cohort, including BreachQuest, a Texas-based firm that is building its product called Priori, which will reimagine the incident response process and minimize breach costs.Cybersecurity tools have been overlooking one key area and thats the speed, efficiency and preparedness for your incident response, which will dictate the outcome and any cyber-attack, CEO and co-founder Shawn Gordon said.Gordon said in the last seven years, the detection time of notifying users about potential cyber threats has not improved, and the costs to mitigate data losses as a result of the crime continue to increase.The global average cost of a data breach increased by 2.6% from $4.24 million in 2021 to $4.35 million in 2022 the highest ever recorded, according to IBM Securitys latest data breach report.In 2023, with all the cutting-edge technology, we are still dealing with attackers using automation and efficiency while defenders are stuck with manual hands-on-keyboard (approaches), Gordon said before receiving a roomful of applause.BreachQuest has a team of 16 employees, and contracts with three customers. The business-to-business platform is able to pick up the breadcrumbs, identifying the source of the attack.Through the three-month accelerator program, Gordon, Soave and Cote, among other founders, were offered mentoring from prominent tech founders and cybersecurity industry giants, as well as pitch coaching.The pitch night event marks the conclusion of the program and aims to connect the startups with potential investors and customers, and further build connections in Tampa Bays tech community.Meet the cohorts other startups fighting cybercrime and ensuring safety:Avertro: Avertro is an Australia-based, venture-backed company thats built a cyber command platform that helps leaders manage, measure and report on their cybersecurity performance. Founder and CEO Ian Yip said the company has a completely automated process and is currently cash flow positive.Cyvatar: Cyvatar is a California-based firm that manages security subscriptions. The 15-member company has raised $6 million.Hackmetrix: Hackmetrix is based in Mexico and helps Latin American startups and small and medium businesses to prove their security standing by allowing them to achieve compliance certifications and utilize monitoring tools.