The future of Cybersecurity startups in the UK
The global pandemic in 2020 has caused a global shift to remote and hybrid work as well as a transition to online or cloud-based solutions, forcing companies to quickly pivot the way they operate without the luxury of careful preparation. Where most companies saw crises, cybercriminals saw opportunities and cybersecurity startups saw growth potentials.
Cybersecurity became the fastest growing startup sector. The growth of the market can be attributed to the growing sophistication of cyberattacks, demanding companies to check their systems whether they are sustainable and secure enough to enable long term remote working. With 48% of UK companies stating they do not have adequate cybersecurity and 70% of companies across Europe admitting that they do not have a sufficient cybersecurity team in general, all signs point towards continued demand for cybersecurity services and talent in 2022.
As a digital marketing and PR agency - specialising in green-tech, cybersecurity, property and health technology, OggaDoon constantly reports the latest news, updates the latest trends and shares advice on how to help startups increase awareness within their industries, gain more leads and capture the most from their potential markets. In this article, we aim to cover the biggest cybersecurity challenges in 2022, the NCSC Cyber Accelerator Program in the UK and reveal the faces of five Cybersecurity startups of the future.
Cybersecurity challenges in 2022
Cybersecurity startups have risen to become business heroes and to protect our ‘new world’ by providing tools and consultancies to help companies test their resilience and identify vulnerabilities. However, the cybersecurity landscape is rapidly changing as companies continue to adopt cloud services, DevSecOps, containers and push for new concepts such as “zero trust.” Individuals and businesses need to be aware of the ever-growing avenues of cyberattacks and what can be done to mitigate the risks.
*Zero Trust is a security framework requiring all users, whether in or outside the organization's network, to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated for security configuration and posture before being granted or keeping access to applications and data.
In 2022, the cybersecurity market will face the growing threat of ransomware. According to the UK National Cyber Security Centre, there were three times more ransomware attacks in the first quarter of 2021 than in 2019. Research by PwC suggests that 61% of technology executives expect this to increase in 2022. Due to the growth in the amount of activity carried out online and in digital environments since the pandemic, cybercriminals have more chances to deceive an individual user or a company to click a link that automatically downloads the ransomware.
Besides ransomware, AI and IoT are also potential access points for cybercriminals looking to gain access to secure digital systems. Another may be an increasing number of jurisdictions passing laws relating to making payments in response to ransomware attacks. Although these challenges will increase the burden of responsibility for cybersecurity startups, in a long run, it will only be a good potential for business growth and expansion.
NCSC Cyber Accelerator Programme
NCSC (The National Cyber Security Centre) - a part of GCHQ in Britain - and Plexal, the innovation company, have recently launched NCSC For Startups programme. It is the successor to the NCSC Cyber Accelerator programme, which helped more than 40 tech companies raise over £100m in external investment.
The programme welcomes cybersecurity startups at all stages of maturity - from developing an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to establishing cybersecurity solutions - with a desire to capture new markets and pilot technology. The programme aims to bring together innovative startups with NCSC technical expertise to solve some of the UK’s most important cyber challenges. The chosen companies will receive direct support from Plexal’s cyber innovation team and leading experts from the NCSC and GCHQ.
Let’s look at these five cybersecurity innovators, who have been chosen to work with the UK’s technical experts to address some of the most prevalent threats facing the nation. They are the hottest cybersecurity startups to watch heading into 2022, offering a range of solutions to issues including cyber fraud and ransomware.
Five cybersecurity startups of the future
Rebellion Defence is a British-American software company building AI products exclusively for the defence sector and national security purposes. Nova, its cyber readiness solution helps organisations look ahead, focus their resources and proactively defend their systems and networks.
Speaking about what Rebellion Defence gained from the NCSC programme, Oliver Lewis, co-founder of Rebellion Defence, commented “The level of exposure we have had especially to technical architects in NCSC has meant that we have learnt about certain product features which are going to be critical to deploying our software on critical national infrastructure.”
Oliver Lewis also opened up to share advice with other cybersecurity startups in the UK about joining the programme “Startups tend to fail if they assume investment means you need to stop listening and learning. I would say ‘prioritise this’ and wherever you are in the country, prioritise coming to Cheltenham and immersing yourself in that community because it is invaluable.
Established in London, Meterian is a British software company using automation to secure open-source software by building a scalable and sustainable line of defence for apps. Meterian wants to empower time-pressured developers to become the first line of defence for security.
Vivian Dufour, CEO of Meterian, commented about the benefits of joining the programme “What’s been exciting in this programme is that we have opened more doors to even larger enterprises and we’re seeing that there’s still the hiccups between development operations and security to identify how we can smooth out bringing security into the day-to-day workflow of developers.”
Enclave helps organisations take a Zero Trust approach by using overlaying networks that make private systems invisible to the public internet until defined trust standards have been met. Enclave is on a mission to make security more convenient for organisations.
George Brown, Founder and CEO of PORGiESOFT, talked about the company’s changing mission “PORGiESOFT was previously an ed-tech startup, but since the pandemic, we decided to pivot into cyber security. We’re trying to use machine learning and natural language processing to detect cyber fraud in emails and text messages.”
PORGiESOFT wants to be the Grammarly of cyber fraud detection. Its SenseText product uses AI to calculate a fraud risk score, providing a second opinion on suspicious emails.
“I think being an ed-tech startup before sometimes you are not aware of the responsibility that comes with cyber security, but this programme has helped us to find a network and be part of the cyber ecosystem which has helped validate our technologies – so it has been great” George commented about how NCSC programme helped PORGiESOFT to find a better product and a market fit.
Giving a piece of advice to other startups, George strongly encouraged: “I’d say: just go for it. Even if you’re in another sector, there are always ways for you to apply what you’ve done and move it over in cyber.”
Exalens equips SME manufacturers with advanced cyber security that tends to be reserved for large enterprises. Exalens develops through its threat detection and response solution and cyber-physical AI — both of which don’t require an in-house security expert.
Ryan Heartfield, the co-founder of Exalens, commented on the programme: “What the NCSC programme has allowed us to do is use all of the resources in a consortium and network, as a catalyst of building that wrapper for us as a business - getting access to and talking to industry experts.” He also motivated other startups to join the programme “As a startup, you’re going to come to the party with skills and capability, but you’re going to lack it as well. So, don’t be scared to feel like you’re not the finished product – because you’re not the finished product. Programmes like this allow you to build and mature.”
Chris Ensor, NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth, said: “The UK has a thriving cyber security industry and I’m excited to get to work with our first five companies and bring their innovations to life. Finding great ideas that can help protect all areas of society is a key part of our mission and we look forward to collaborating with more startups as the programme rolls on.”
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