PRESS RELEASE
TEL AVIV, Israel–(COMMERCIAL WIRE)–Safety objective, an Israeli cybersecurity startup offering businesses a holistic and unique GenAI security platform, today announced $10 million in seed funding. The round was led by YL Ventures, with participation from CCL (Cyber Club London), the founders of WIZ and angel investors from Google, Proofpoint and Palo Alto Networks. Aim Security was founded by cybersecurity veterans Matan Getz, CEO and Adir Gruss, CTO who pioneered the use and adoption of artificial intelligence and big data tools in the company’s elite intelligence Unit 8200. IDF.
Generative AI isn’t the future of technology, it’s the present. McKinsey & Company report on “The state of artificial intelligence in 2023” says one-third of respondents use GenAI regularly in at least one business function, and 40% of respondents indicate their organizations plan to increase their investments in AI overall. Interestingly, 53% of respondents in the McKinsey report consider cybersecurity risks to be the most acute risks related to GenAI adoption, but only 38% of respondents who reported GenAI adoption say they are in capable of mitigating the risks of GenAI.
“The financial industry’s stringent regulations and our concern for our customers’ data make adopting GenAI challenging,” says Drew Robertson, CISO at Finance of America. “Aim protects the full range of our use of GenAI, regardless of where it is applied (public SaaS apps, enterprise chats, or our own internal developments) and helps us place and enforce guardrails that fit our industry regulations and our specific needs.”
GenAI is implemented in three main ways, each with its own unique risk surface. Public GenAI tools and third-party apps with built-in GenAI capabilities accelerate how employees send sensitive data to external tools. Some of these tools may not be governed and approved by security teams, who must then pursue the adoption of these Shadow AI tools, mapping each of their specific risks and understanding which tools are training their models on the data submitted. Furthermore, there is a massive and growing adoption of GenAI-based co-pilots by enterprises.
These hyperproductivity tools plug into the enterprise environment and can break all existing trust boundaries, flatten the level of authorization, and create unauthorized access to data. Companies have also realized the immense value of using GenAI agents and AI-driven development to power their applications, leading to GenAI ownership and regulation issues, security questions related to malicious and manipulated GenAI output, and unique attack vectors such as jailbreak and timely injection.
Traditional security tools lack the specific expertise needed to understand the fundamentals of GenAI and the scope of its risks, and these are blind spots that organizations cannot see until it is too late. “This massive risk surface is full of unique attack vectors that existing security solutions cannot adequately address,” says Matan Getz, CEO and co-founder of Aim Security. “Just like the cloud revolution and the bespoke security solutions that followed, the GenAI revolution requires an entirely new approach to addressing its unique vulnerabilities and vectors.”
Within the organization, business users and developers can leverage GenAI technology while Aim gives security teams the oversight, visibility and control they’ve never had. Aim’s unrivaled GenAI Protection Suite is a holistic platform dedicated to continuously addressing these risks, while ensuring greater productivity and secure adoption of GenAI.
“While the market is still finding its footing in the GenAI wilderness, Aim is already providing its customers with everything they need to address emerging GenAI security threats, while providing valuable business insights into the use of GenAI,” he says Ofer Schreiber, Senior Partner at YL Ventures. “Matan and Adir are true visionaries whose innovative approach is key to entering a new, ever-evolving industry. They already have a strong customer base, indicating an exceptional ability to execute quickly while continuing to meet customer needs along their journey to GenAI.”
A complete security solution for any GenAI use, Aim goes beyond security. It provides organizations with critical insights that increase their understanding of how GenAI can be used to achieve business objectives. “In our business, GenAI is truly disruptive to our daily productivity and efficiency,” says Elie AbenMoha, CISO at a Global 1000 media company. “We are deeply invested in the space and driving innovative integrations of GenAI into our environment. The central role of security in shaping deployment architecture and shaping policy cannot be overstated. I am delighted to have Aim’s expertise guiding us through this crucial process.”
“Aim gives us complete visibility into employee use of GenAI, with proactive protections and preventative controls, elevating the MIO Information Security team to business enablers,” says Israel Bryski, CISO at MIO Partners, Inc. “The approach business-oriented and agility of Aim served a critical role in MIO’s GenAI Exploration Committee, helping us shape our GenAI strategy rooted in a solid security foundation.”
To learn more about how Aim Security can help drive the safe adoption of GenAI, visit: Purpose.Safety
Additional citations
“Not only did Aim help us ensure that sensitive data was not leaked to public GenAI tools, it also provided a secure alternative, transforming our security team into true business enablers. As a healthcare technology company, we must use the most forward-thinking technologies to improve our products. With Aim we are confident in the level of security we provide and can accelerate the adoption of GenAI without worry.” Sarah Hendrickson, CISO of Cerebral
“Generative AI is the future of business and cannot be protected using traditional security strategies and tools. Aim introduces a completely new holistic approach and specific expertise to protect the unique risks of GenAI, with a rapid time to value and a simplified approach.” Michael Sutton, former CISO of Zscaler
“After helping companies protect their data for over 20 years, I can confidently say that the legacy security stack cannot help companies protect their proprietary and regulated data in the age of GenAI. A new and innovative platform is needed to address the unique challenges that GenAI uncovers. Aim is exactly what you need in your current security stack, to ensure your data is protected.” Yair Grindlinger, former senior vice president of product at Proofpoint
From Safety objective
The GenAI era will fundamentally transform the traditional security stack. Safety objective is leading the industry in ensuring GenAI adoption, providing security leaders with the ability to increase business productivity while providing the right guardrails and ensuring proactive protection for all use cases across the entire organization, whether for both corporate and production use. Guiding CISOs and security professionals on their journey to secure GenAI, Aim enables enterprises to unlock the full potential of GenAI technology without compromising security.
From YL Ventures
YL Ventures funds and supports visionary cybersecurity entrepreneurs from seed to scale to help them turn transformative ideas into market-leading companies. The company accelerates business growth with personalized support through its powerful network of Chief Information Security Officers, global industry leaders and a dedicated team of multidisciplinary experts. Based in Silicon Valley, New York and Tel Aviv, YL Ventures manages five funds with total assets under management of $800 million. The company has a long history of building cybersecurity unicorns such as Axonius and Orca Security, and its portfolio companies have been successfully acquired by high-profile global industry leaders, including Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Okta and Proofpoint . In 2022, YL Ventures ranked 8th out of more than 250 venture capital firms in PitchBook’s prestigious Global Manager Performance Score League rankings and was the only cybersecurity-focused VC to secure a place in the top 10.