Ethical hackers help secure companies' clouds from security breaches

As the cloud environment grows more complex, so do the necessary tools for maintaining a secure environment.

NOVEMBER 25, 2020 22:11

Cyber hackers [illustrative] (photo credit: REUTERS) — Cyber hackers [illustrative]

(photo credit: REUTERS)

As cloud storage technologies evolve at a staggering pace, more companies and organizations find themselves vulnerable to hacking attempts. Now, an Israeli security start-up, founded by former ethical hackers, offers companies the opportunity to proactively map their full cloud system and detect potential critical threats before malicious hackers get the chance to exploit them.

Lightspin announced its official launch on Tuesday after closing a $4 million seed funding round to help organizations protect cloud infrastructure and advance digital transformation.

Cloud storage refers to a model of computer data storage that includes digital data stored online in logical pools. The rapid developments in this field have been promoting innovation and business opportunities on the one hand, but have created a challenge for cloud security teams facing a shortage of resources and expertise, as well as overwhelming volumes of alerts that lack effective prioritization, all of which make their jobs increasingly more difficult.

As the cloud environment grows more complex, so do the necessary tools for maintaining a secure environment.

The term "ethical hackers" refers to certified hackers who look for vulnerabilities in a company's technological system and infrastructure that could lead to security breaches and make the necessary adjustments for preventing real hackers from exploiting the identified weakness. Essentially, they assume the role of hackers in order to prevent hackers from doing any real damage.

Lightspin’s technology, developed by former ethical hackers, "uses graph-based tools and algorithms to provide rapid, in-depth visualization of the cloud stack, analyze potential attack paths, and detect the root causes – the most critical vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit," according to the company.

By utilizing a prospective attacker’s approach, Lightspin is able to create a detailed map of all possible threats that is continuously updated, providing cloud security teams with a contextual and live view of security status of different components of the cloud at any given moment.

"An increasing reliance on cloud computing is inevitably leading to an expanding threat landscape. Having worked with CISOs and cloud owners from numerous global companies, we know that existing solutions do not address the full scope of security challenges," Vladi Sandler, CEO and Co-Founder at Lightspin said.

"Based on our experience in attacking cloud infrastructure, we understand how attackers think, which is our superpower," he added.

Lightspin’s solution is already in use at multiple Fortune 500 companies, and 20 pilots are currently running at global organizations, a press release mentioned.