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From Insight to Impact – Fighting Cyber Crime with Data Analytics

Cybercrime is relentless, terrifying, and can be devastating for its victims. Worldwide, it costs an estimated $600 billion USD every year.

Protecting your organisation is imperative. And huge investment is made as businesses attempt to halt hackers – Gartner, a leading global research and advisory firm, has forecast that worldwide security spending will exceed $124 USD billion in 2019, a yearly market growth of 12.4%.

Data analytics could be the best hope businesses have for defending themselves – an industry in which the UK is a leading light.

Perfectly illustrating this expertise is Callsign, a London based start-up that offers a digital authentication platform. By using machine learning to analyse web traffic data points it can assess if people are who they say they are – alerting businesses to any suspicious logins. The technology not only helps improve security but has been able to reduce fraud and keep businesses compliant with all key legislation – including Know Your Customer (KYC), and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

Similarly, ZoneFox uses AI to examine network behaviour and flag strange activity. Generating £3.6 million in Series A funding, it is already used by global customers, including Rockstar Games and Zenith Bank. Offering threat hunting – both external and internal – as well as endpoint monitoring, ZoneFox ensures that businesses are secure against all attacks.

Elsewhere, one start-up is looking to tackle the human side of cybercrime – aiming to eliminate user error. CybSafe applies behavioural science to security e-learning programmes. Accredited by GCHQ, its awareness training doesn’t just impart information but assesses changes in the user’s behaviour to make sure the lessons really have been learnt. Customers include financial service providers Credit Suisse, Lloyds Banking Group, and retail giant John Lewis.

Data can change the world – and when used to block attacks, detect malware, and mitigate risk, it can also keep us safe. The UK is at the forefront of this movement, creating and applying technology that is transforming the cyber security industry and leading the fight against cybercriminals.

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