Hyas Blog | Attribution Intelligence: Illuminating the Shadows

HYAS doesn’t like letting bad guys get away. For three years, we’ve been working on something that helps law enforcement and intelligence analysts nail them to the wall. Now, we have secured a Series A funding round that will bring it to market. Online attackers everywhere should be scared.

For years, those attackers have had an advantage. Operating from the shadows halfway around the world, they could strike at companies with impunity. Victims have been aware of these cybersecurity threats just as a deer is aware of oncoming headlights. They know the danger exists, but they can’t see it properly, even when it hits them head-on.

Here’s the problem: Most modern cybersecurity has been little more than theatre, and most tools simply stage props. A dashboard with some glowing red lights and some network data alone won’t protect you. For true defence, an organization needs intelligence. It must understand not just what is happening on its network, but what the data means.

To do this, it must know its attackers. Where do they come from? What tools, tactics and procedures do they use? Looking behind the network data to understand the narrative of an attack helps us to know who is coming at us, why, and how.
Until now, though, the clues have been scarce. Filling in the gaps between them has been more art than science. Sifting through a sea of low-quality open source information has left even the best threat intelligence analysts blinking at shadows.

Taking attribution intelligence to the next level

Every cybersecurity professional today is facing down this problem. At HYAS we have dedicated ourselves to helping them solve it. Comox, our attribution intelligence and investigation toolkit, gives analysts access to years of exclusive attack data that lets them see the unseeable. It’s like X-ray vision for cybersecurity investigators.

Early test customers expected just another security dashboard, but when they see what our platform can do, they experience what we’ve come to call the ‘Holy sh*t’ moment. We never get tired of seeing it. For perhaps the first time in their professional lives, they feel empowered, and finally able to put their attackers on the back foot.

HYAS developed and refined this platform with seed funding. Thanks to our Series A backers, we’re ready for the next step. Led by M12, Microsoft’s venture arm, it’s an industry dream team combining financial and industry expertise. Wesley Clover, Startup Capital Ventures, 205 Capital, former Internet Security Systems founder Tom Noonan and information security guru Ariel Silverstone have seen what we have built and what we’re working on. We are excited to show them what we can do.

This funding helps us bring Comox to market and develop another industry first: Saltspring. This forthcoming global breach detection technology uses our exclusive relationships with global infrastructure providers to give analysts real-time visibility into attacks as they happen.

We have spent years building an infrastructure that helps us see what the bad guys see. Now, our world-class attribution intelligence products will help send them to jail. Finally, online attackers are going to get what they deserve.