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XM Cyber Provides The First APT Simulation Platform To Continuously Expose & Remediate Attack Vectors To Critical Assets

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XM Cyber developed the first fully automated Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) simulation platform to continuously expose all attack paths and immediately follow with actionable and prioritized remediation in a 24/7 loop. In effect, XM Cyber’s HaXM platform works as an automated purple team that fluidly combines offensive red teaming with defensive blue teaming to ensure that organizations are always a step ahead of the hacker. The company was founded by the highest caliber of security executives from the elite Israel intelligence sector. Together they bring a proven track record in the offensive and defensive cyber security domain.

Below is our recent interview with Noam Erez, CEO at XM Cyber:

Noam Erez

Q: Why did you decide to establish the company?

A: Encouraged by incentives and even notoriety, advanced attackers are not going away. Rather, they’re becoming more sophisticated and their penetration rate is gaining pace. The past year alone introduced some of the biggest attacks in history; from Equifax to Wannacry and NotPetya. Hackers are increasingly using more sophisticated methods to mimic legitimate users and go under the radars of all protective measures.

The severity and frequency of attacks has prompted organizations to conduct human penetration tests and red team campaigns. However, these methods feature a timeout period between exercises, making it possible for attacks to still be executed. Despite all the security measures, attackers — especially those launching APT attacks — continue to gain unauthorized access and conduct malicious activity. Working under the radar, they wait patiently, often for months, to exploit a security vulnerability left undetected by conventional security systems. They often exploit poor IT hygiene, misconfigurations and users’ daily activities.

At XM Cyber, we want to help organizations come to terms with the reality that they might not be completely secure. With our years of experience in both offensive and defensive cybersecurity, we set out to build a game-changing solution that makes the life of hackers extremely difficult — particularly sophisticated and persistent hackers that elude detection for prolonged periods.

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Q: You recently launched the first automated Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) simulation platform; could you tell us about it?

A: Understanding advanced hackers, Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) is important. Knowing how to effectively combat them at every moment, 365 days a year, is vital.

APTs are attack campaigns targeting sensitive financial or proprietary data, usually performed in stealth mode by highly skilled hackers. Infamous APT campaigns have been performed against large corporations including Yahoo, Northrop Grumman, Google, and many others. These campaigns usually leverage human errors that leave behind a trail of blind spots, backdoors and windows along attack vectors to the critical assets. Traditional cybersecurity solutions, aimed at keeping known threats out of the network, are no longer sufficient against these types of attacks.

Our APT simulation platform is disrupting the traditional cybersecurity market. We’re the first to automatically simulate and validate the hackers’ path and prioritize actionable remediation for the most up-to-date APT techniques along every vector to the crown jewels, at any moment. We focus on APTs to expose all the gaps in a network. The end result is an automated 24/7 cyber loop that continuously zeroes in on an organization’s key assets.

We are aware of the need to keep networks free of disorders and delays, so every simulation campaign is processed without affecting network availability, and without compromising the user experience.

Q: Who are the primary users of XM Cyber, and what are some of the key challenges you are helping them solve?

A: We’ve found that many cyber-mature organizations with multiple protection measures are still subject to gaps along the attack vectors to their digital crown jewels. Banks, critical infrastructure organizations, healthcare, retail and manufacturing companies are often targets, despite all the security controls deployed in their networks.

The biggest challenges are the scale, structure and complexity of their networks, which operate in an increasingly dynamic and distributed environment. It makes it almost impossible to really know if their critical assets are secure, despite all the modern protective measures in place.

Due to this complexity, it is human to expect to find loopholes created almost daily. So, we identified an opportunity to provide mid-to-large organizations with a data-driven solution that automatically and continuously assesses their critical assets at risk. By creating the optimum cyber loop, every loophole present under the radar is exposed and then immediately followed up with prioritized remediation.

Q: What’s unique about XM Cyber technology and how does it stand out from the competition?

A: Our automated purple team platform works as an advanced virtual red team followed immediately by a blue team that prioritizes simple, actionable fixes. Our platform runs multiple vector campaigns simultaneously that simulate an APT at 100% reliability. Leveraging a knowledge-base with the most up-to date hacking techniques, we pick up on every invisible misconfiguration in real time, 24/7.

To ensure that we’re always one step ahead, our team of experts thinks and operates like a sophisticated hacker that constantly scours the cyber landscape. Leaving nothing to chance, we always stay up-to-date on all methods and techniques used by the most sophisticated attackers. Both virtual red teams and blue teams work synergistically around the clock to meet potential hackers at every twist and turn, and in the process, improve the organization’s ability to defend itself against hackers.

To complete the workflow, we don’t just pinpoint the loopholes; we deliver simple-to-follow guidelines to accelerate remediation and ensure gaps are closed immediately, causing attackers to lose network superiority and eventually seek other pastures.

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Q: What are your future plans?

A: Although we worked below the fold until March 2018, many organizations have heard about us and reached out to us. They found great value in a platform capable of leveraging human errors on a daily basis. Following a brief POC process, we were able to convert them into customers.

We plan to leverage our existing global client base and broaden our market across verticals. Today we have customers at the forefront of the financial, manufacturing and critical infrastructure industries in the US, Europe and Israel, so it feels natural to grow globally and vertically. Concurrently, we’re looking forward to taking the technology to the next level and continuing to disrupt the cybersecurity market. We urge you to stay tuned for future developments.

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