The United Kingdom (UK) GCHQ selected Spherical Defence, an artificial intelligence (AI) security company started in Pune, India as one of the first seven tech startups to join the agency’s Cyber Accelerator, the company said on Thursday.
The GCHQ is a UK government intelligence agency focusing on cyber and signals intelligence, akin to the United States National Security Agency.
The accelerator is a collaboration between the GCHQ; the Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS); and corporate accelerator Wayra UK. The program seeks to develop the next generation of cyber startups that keep people secure online.
The UK government first selected Wayra UK to operate the first of two planned cyber accelerator facilities this past September (Defense Daily, Sept. 23, 2016). Wayra UK is part of Telefónica Open Future and launched in 2012 to give funding, acceleration, and pre-acceleration services to start-ups.
Both planned accelerator facilities will help guide start-ups to grow and produce new cyber security solutions. They will also provide the startups with access to GCHQ’s personnel and technological experience to allow them to expand capabilities and create new products.
This selection gives Spherical Defence credibility on the global stage and increases its ability to secure new corporate partners and customers, company co-founder Dishant Shah said.
“This is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with the world’s leading cyber security experts. By working with GCHQ, we will be able to take our exceptional technology to the next level, and target the global market,” he said in a statement.
Spherical Defense currently focuses on detecting hacking attempts and the payment industry, having built a Banking Intrusion Detection system using AI. It uses Deep Learning to learn from network traffic and create a baseline of normal communication, then inferring deviations from normal patterns to find intrusions.
The company has previously worked with the companies PayTM, OYO Rooms, ICICI Bank, and HSBC [HSBC] to secure infrastructure. Following the UK selection the company announced it is in talks with international banks like Barclays [BCS], Santander [SAN], and HSBC.
Matt Hancock MP, UK Minister of State for Digital and Culture said “I congratulate all the companies selected to join the new accelerator facility which is now open for business. This is an important step in delivering our National Cyber Security Strategy, and supported by £1.9bn [$3.4 billion] transformative investment in cyber security.”