Periodic Reporting for period 1 - D-FENCE (D-FENCE: Deceptive Monitored Environments for Cybersecurity in Enterprises)
Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2019-08-31
The ineffectiveness of current cybersecurity solutions is alarming: 97% of entities are vulnerable to the more and more sophisticated attacks of hackers and the reported incidences have multiplied its number by 18 from 2009 to 2015. This is causing massive annual losses of approx. €38Bn/year only in Europe, with an average damage of €9.5M per company attacked. The rising trend on the Internet of Things, expected to bring 50 Bn connected devices by 2020, will multiply by orders of magnitude the risks of cybercrime and so the potential damages.
Aiming to tackle this challenge, we present D-FENCE, an advanced cybersecurity solution that applies Cyber Deception to ‘cheat the hackers’. D-FENCE creates lures (credentials, HTML tags, cookies…) and distributes them across the real production systems. These lures point to our decoys, i.e. false endpoints (PCs, servers…) that mimic real assets. When attackers try to access the decoys, an alarm is immediately triggered, so it is possibly to rapidly detect, monitor, analyse and counteract any attack. Meanwhile, the real assets are safe from the attacker, who is tangled in our deceptive virtual environment. D-FENCE enables 70% more effective and 95% faster detection of attacks compared to existing cybersecurity solutions, meaning potential savings of billions € per year.
We have planned several activities to bring D-FENCE to its TRL9 and to ensure a successful commercialization by 2022. Technical objectives include the seamless integration with IoT devices and SAP production system, the ensuring of its scalability and to automate the generation of threats. Commercial activities involve a revision of the business strategy, commercialization agreements and distribution agreements. Communication objectives focus on the development of commercial materials, website and newsletters and presence in trade fairs.
This project has had as main goals to assess the technical feasibility of the objectives listed above, the commercial viability of our value proposition and the financial requirements of adjusting our current D-FENCE solution to better serve the needs of our customers.
Aiming to tackle this challenge, we present D-FENCE, an advanced cybersecurity solution that applies Cyber Deception to ‘cheat the hackers’. D-FENCE creates lures (credentials, HTML tags, cookies…) and distributes them across the real production systems. These lures point to our decoys, i.e. false endpoints (PCs, servers…) that mimic real assets. When attackers try to access the decoys, an alarm is immediately triggered, so it is possibly to rapidly detect, monitor, analyse and counteract any attack. Meanwhile, the real assets are safe from the attacker, who is tangled in our deceptive virtual environment. D-FENCE enables 70% more effective and 95% faster detection of attacks compared to existing cybersecurity solutions, meaning potential savings of billions € per year.
We have planned several activities to bring D-FENCE to its TRL9 and to ensure a successful commercialization by 2022. Technical objectives include the seamless integration with IoT devices and SAP production system, the ensuring of its scalability and to automate the generation of threats. Commercial activities involve a revision of the business strategy, commercialization agreements and distribution agreements. Communication objectives focus on the development of commercial materials, website and newsletters and presence in trade fairs.
This project has had as main goals to assess the technical feasibility of the objectives listed above, the commercial viability of our value proposition and the financial requirements of adjusting our current D-FENCE solution to better serve the needs of our customers.
We validated the technical, the commercial and the financial feasibility of our innovation project, and established a plan for a global commercialization.
Technically, we analysed how we are going the enhance our current D-FENCE solution according to customers needs and market trends, to offer an innovative game-changing cybersecurity solution. We established the roadmap to reach TRL9 and to keep improving our solution implementing the best features to truly empower our customers.
Our market research aimed to analyse the Deception Solutions on the market and the needs of our target customers. We thoroughly analysed our target markets and identified key market drivers that will fuel the adoption of our solution. We analysed key market barriers and risks and established their mitigation actions. We studied our competition landscape and our freedom-to-operate analysis validated that our technology does not infringe any existing patent. To speed-up post-project sales, we fine-tuned our commercialization strategy and established agreements and plans with a carefully thought commercial partners. Finally, we shaped our projected sales revenues from mid-2022 to the end of 2026.
Technically, we analysed how we are going the enhance our current D-FENCE solution according to customers needs and market trends, to offer an innovative game-changing cybersecurity solution. We established the roadmap to reach TRL9 and to keep improving our solution implementing the best features to truly empower our customers.
Our market research aimed to analyse the Deception Solutions on the market and the needs of our target customers. We thoroughly analysed our target markets and identified key market drivers that will fuel the adoption of our solution. We analysed key market barriers and risks and established their mitigation actions. We studied our competition landscape and our freedom-to-operate analysis validated that our technology does not infringe any existing patent. To speed-up post-project sales, we fine-tuned our commercialization strategy and established agreements and plans with a carefully thought commercial partners. Finally, we shaped our projected sales revenues from mid-2022 to the end of 2026.
D-FENCE brings a new and enhanced level of cybersecurity performance by providing a unique combination of features and functionalities that unleashes the full potential of Cyber Deception. Different to other solutions, D-FENCE covers all the system levels (network, endpoint, application and data), uses real operating systems and applications, and has the capability of automatically adapting the deceptive elements (lures and decoys) based on the activities of the threat actor. This permits reaching new levels of effectivity for detecting attacks (over 90% detection rate within less than 1 day). Furthermore, it offers advanced counterintelligence support to give actionable advice to users facing an attack; it requires minimum work for implementation and interpretation of data; and its price is up to 3 times more affordable (see detailed benchmarking in following section).
From a broader perspective, the enhanced cybersecurity provided by D-FENCE will enable large companies the most affected by cyberattacks) saving billions € at EU level and hundreds of thousands to millions € per entity. Within Europe, only Germany, UK and Switzerland sum more than 70% of total attacks (losses valued at approx. €26.6 billion/year).
D-FENCE not only improves the detection of attacks, but also avoids / minimizes the damages of attacks and helps strengthening the rest of cybersecurity assets. Besides, D-FENCE will enable revealing the hacker's identity, permitting international authorities to track and imprison hackers after being provided with appropriate forensic information.
D-FENCE also provides benefits from the societal and environmental perspectives; 40% of industrial control systems and critical infrastructures are targeted by cyberattacks and can be benefited by D-FENCE by preventing not only the disruption of essential services (water/energy, healthcare systems…) but also environmental catastrophes (dam spill overs, disposal of toxic materials…). This could lead to avoiding hundreds of thousands to million € per company and year in damages and billions of € at EU level.
From a broader perspective, the enhanced cybersecurity provided by D-FENCE will enable large companies the most affected by cyberattacks) saving billions € at EU level and hundreds of thousands to millions € per entity. Within Europe, only Germany, UK and Switzerland sum more than 70% of total attacks (losses valued at approx. €26.6 billion/year).
D-FENCE not only improves the detection of attacks, but also avoids / minimizes the damages of attacks and helps strengthening the rest of cybersecurity assets. Besides, D-FENCE will enable revealing the hacker's identity, permitting international authorities to track and imprison hackers after being provided with appropriate forensic information.
D-FENCE also provides benefits from the societal and environmental perspectives; 40% of industrial control systems and critical infrastructures are targeted by cyberattacks and can be benefited by D-FENCE by preventing not only the disruption of essential services (water/energy, healthcare systems…) but also environmental catastrophes (dam spill overs, disposal of toxic materials…). This could lead to avoiding hundreds of thousands to million € per company and year in damages and billions of € at EU level.