illusive networks, which is redefining deception technology, today announced that it has raised $5 million in Series A funding from cyber security foundry Team8. illusive, founded by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP veteran Ofer Israeli, is taking on the hardest cyber security problem facing organizations today – targeted attacks.
“The business world is under cyber siege, with cyber attacks dominating headlines,” said Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and founding partner at Innovation Endeavors, which backs Team8. “It is critical that we support innovative startups developing creative and disruptive solutions to these threats. illusive networks is a perfect example of the kind of ‘out of the box’ thinking necessary to challenge the growing threat of targeted attacks.”
“Cybersecurity is of strategic concern for every CEO,” said Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, another Team8 backer. “Alcatel-Lucent is proud to work with Team8 to develop disruptive companies, like illusive networks, that challenge the most difficult cybersecurity problems facing organizations today.”
“As successful attackers move towards their target, they rely on one simple fact – that the data they collect is accurate,” said Shlomo Touboul, illusive networks CEO. “What if we tamper with that data and create an environment where attackers can’t rely on the information they gather? If the information is unreliable, the attack cannot move forward. In real world terms, if Sony or Target had been using illusive networks, those attacks could have been prevented.”
illusive’s agentless solution prevents targeted attacks and APTs by proactively “baiting” an organization’s IT network with a woven layer of deception. When attackers act upon baited information, it both neutralizes the attack and instantly triggers a breach report, enabling security administrators to detect, track and contain the attack in its early stages.
illusive also provides security administrators real-time forensics information, collected at the exact moment attackers take the bait and before they have time to clean their tracks. And because illusive triggers a breach report only when attackers act on false information, security administrators no longer have to worry about being flooded with millions of daily “false positive” alerts.
“illusive is nothing like honeypots or honeynets,” said founder and VP R&D Ofer Israeli. “illusive’s ‘deception everywhere’ technology takes a virtual brush and paints a deceptive layer of honey over the entire network. Every real endpoint, server and network component is coated with deception, creating an alternate reality that neutralizes the attacker.”
“Traditional solutions to targeted attacks and APTs are passive; they try to defend the weakness in an organization’s network. illusive is proactive. It attacks the weakness in how an attacker sees the network,” said Nadav Zafrir, Team8 CEO and former head of Israel’s famous Unit 8200, the cyber intelligence organization synonymous with the United States National Security Agency (NSA). “The genius of illusive’s solution is that it knows how attackers see the network and then uses it against them. If attackers cannot collect reliable data, they cannot make decisions. And if they cannot make decisions, they are paralyzed.”