Cylance, a company specialized in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning solutions against malware and cyber crime, has announced on Wednesday, June 8, that it raised $100 million for developing an AI system for cybersecurity.
According to VentureBeat, the founding has been achieved in a Series D round led by Insight Venture Partners and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, with participation from existing investors. The startup cybersecurity company was founded in 2012 by Stuart McClure. Prior to this round of fundraising, Cylance had already raised around $77 million, including $20 million the previous year and a $42 million round last July.
Cylance claims that it already has around 1,000 customers that are using company's software to protect themselves from advanced security infiltrations. However, this is not the only company using artificial intelligence systems to improve online security. Darktrace and Jask are using similar systems, while the Israel-based Fortscale uses big data analytics and machine learning to detect malicious user behavior.
The cybersecurity platform developed by Cylance is based on suite of algorithm security protocols that the company claims are a "breakthrough mathematical process." The protocols inspect networks for weaknesses and, in case that any threat is detected, it shuts them down.
Cylance promises to help governments and companies predict and prevent advanced threats by using a system that learns the psychology of a hacker. The additional $100 million will be used by the company to support growth by expanding its engineering, marketing and sales programs.
According to PCWorld, the company's cybersecurity system is dubbed CylanceProtect. The flagship product promises to use just a fraction of the system resources required by its competitors.
The AI-based endpoint security system is based on cutting-edge technologies including machine learning. Cylance's cybersecurity system uses the power of artificial intelligence to proactively analyze a file's characteristics and predict whether it is safe or a threat before it executes on the local host.
Cylance's software is able to protect against privilege escalations, zero-day malware, spear phishing, system- and memory-based attacks, scripts and malicious programs. According to Cylance, their product does not require daily software updates or internet connection and eliminates the need for intrusion detection, prevention systems and other antivirus programs.
