According to the Australian federal government, the economy is suffering from $17B losses from cyber attacks annually. The US think tank consortium the Center for Strategic International Studies and Intel Security claim that Australia lacks competency when its comes to cyber security professionals.
Avantgard, dubbed the ‘Australian-Israeli Cyber Centre’ is on a mission to change Australia’s cyber security making it asymmetrical, partnered with cyber security company Cymmetria. This partnership is a step forward to uplift the cyber capabilities of Australian organisations, both on a private and federal level.
In 2016, Austrade and the Governments Defence Science Technology Group, both suffered significant cyber infiltrations by hackers in China.
The Prime Minister’s cyber security adviser; Alastair MacGibbon says that the “Australian Government undergoes cyber attacks daily,” highlighting that Australian organisations, at present, are faced with poor cyber resilience capabilities, making Australia a popular destination for cyber attacks.
Avantgard Founder, Andrew Cox, a veteran in strategic implementation of Government and enterprise security, says, “We take the view of cyber adversary and use the intelligence gathered to assess an organisation’s readiness, build a strategy and tactical plans to protect cyber assets.”
The new partnership with Cymmetria is aligned with the centre’s proactive approach towards cyber security and its pursuit to introduce Israeli expertise and technology into the Australian cyber landscape.
Cymmetria, founded in 2014 by security experts Gadi Evron and Dean Sysman, uses its pioneering technology, MazeRunner, a cyber deception solution based on breadcrumbs and decoys that lead attackers away from valuable targets.
Using MazeRunner, organisations gain the ability to detect threats, shape attacker behavior, and mitigate attacks. Unlike most traditional security solutions, Cymmetria focuses on the attackers – rather than the attacks.
Andrey Shirben, Avantgard’s founding investor says, “Traditional cyber defense requires the defender to be accurate 100% of the time, while the attacker only needs to be successful once. Cymmetria’s MazeRunner turns the table on attackers by creating a ‘deception layer’ that leads them onto decoys instead of real machines. These decoys force attackers to be accurate in 100% of the cases, while the defender only needs to catch them once to eliminate the threat.”
“We believe that intelligence is not a privilege – it is the foundation of building the right defenses,” says Cox.
Avantgard’s hybrid approach consists of high-end consulting services to help organisations assess current risks, threats and defenses, as well as to assist them with implementing solutions, such as Cymmetria’s MazeRunner to combat Australia’s $17B cyber-problem.