Information security solutions developer ThetaRay Ltd., which operates out of the Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) Cyber Security Incubator, has reportedly raised several million dollars from General Electric (NYSE: GE), in its first investment in an Israeli start-up.
ThetaRay was founded in 2012 by two mathematics professors, Amir Averbuch of Tel Aviv University and Ronald Kaufman of Yale University. The company is developing responses to advanced persistent threats (APTs). These new threats are Trojan horses inserted into computer systems by establishment hostile parties, such as foreign governments or crime and terrorist organizations.
ThetaRay's mechanism can not only identify attacks on standard communications and computer systems, but also on critical infrastructures, such as SCADA systems at power stations, which is what interests GE.
JVP Cyber Security Incubator director Yoav Tzruya says that the ties with GE were established when ThetaRay was founded and JVP's seed investment in it earlier this year. GE was given an option to become a strategic investor in the company as part of its effort to establish a cyber security system in Israel.
ThetaRay tries to spot anomalies in computer systems and whether they are an attack. Its solutions are considered cutting edge as they can examine a wide range of variable in computer systems, networks, apps, hardware, and external sources, and their intersections, in order to obtain a more accurate diagnosis of the significance of an anomy detected.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 5, 2013
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