Hariri's Cyber Security Startup Purchased
A startup created by ECE professor Salim Hariri has been acquired by LOCH Technologies for its machine learning capabilities. Hariri started Avirtek Inc. in 2006 as an outlet for autonomic cyber security (ACS) technology. Since its creation, Avirtek has benefited from over $10 million in funding from the Department of Defense, Air Force Research Labs, the U.S. Army, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Navy.
Today, there are an estimated 15 billion Internet of Things or devices in the world connecting to the Web. By 2030, that number may double. Those devices have become essential tools for everyday life. In some cases, such as medical devices like pacemakers and insulin pumps, people’s very survival depends upon them.
And yet, the fact that they are connected to the internet represents great vulnerabilities, exposing users to potential dangers posed by those with malicious intent. As a result, managing the communications traffic between these devices through encryption has become an essential aspect of their implementation.
"Encrypted traffic has become mainstream in the cyber world today as privacy and data security become more important – however, encrypted traffic shields malicious traffic introduced by attackers from being detected. Adding our capability to the LOCH platform provides a new and required threat visibility detection possibility," said Hariri, who is assuming the role of senior vice president of research and development at LOCH.
Avirtek's ACS technology, analogous to the human nervous system, can self-manage and self-protect systems with little human involvement, using adaptive machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies.
"I look forward to integrating their behavior analytics into our platform and increasing our role in the operations and cybersecurity process,” said Kurt Gurtzmacher, chief scientist at LOCH Technologies. “There are unique and significant advancements being made by Avirtek in analyzing datasets, even those that are encrypted."