GlobalGuard: cybersecurity built on Blockchain

The biggest challenge in cybersecurity is keeping up with the new attacks that cybercriminals are always coming up with. They’re always looking for new tools and strategies to defraud companies, so we have to be forward-looking in our approach to defence as well.

My company MailGuard has built its success on being able to respond to new threats ahead of the market and it’s always been our mission to devise better strategies to combat cyber-attacks in real time.

A while ago, an idea started to take shape in MailGuard meetings; a concept of a massive neural network, enhanced by cutting-edge AI, that could use all the most up-to-the-minute intel on cyber-attacks from across the globe. That was the origin of our new cybersecurity project: GlobalGuard.

GlobalGuard: cybersecurity built on Blockchain

GlobalGuard will be a mechanism for real-time collaboration to correct the imbalance of cybercrime prevention; it’s going to leverage the past seventeen years of MailGuard threat data and IP, in combination with an artificially intelligent neural network that’s trained to detect cybersecurity threats. It’s a global ecosystem of cybercrime fighters using the power of next-generation AI and Blockchain technology to defend businesses from criminal intent. It unites end-users, technology partners, cybercrime experts, and vendors, on a living neural network, to identify and stop emerging threats immediately. GlobalGuard will protect businesses worldwide from high-value cybersecurity damage and criminal threats including email malware, phishing, and social engineering attacks.

Phishing is a big threat and makes up about 50% of all cybercrime. One email is all it takes for cybercriminals to break into a computer system, so with the growth in online fraud at an all-time high, it’s never been more important to take proactive steps against cyber-attack.

MailGuard + DigitalX

MailGuard is partnering with DigitalX to launch the Blockchain cybersecurity ecosystem that will power GlobalGuard.

We're building GlobalGuard in close collaboration with DigitalX, so I want to share this quote with you from their CEO Leigh Travers who I’ve been working with very closely:

“GlobalGuard will unite end-users, technology partners, cybercrime experts and vendors throughout the world on a living neural network, to identify and stop threats immediately. It is the next generation of cybersecurity and threat detection. Blockchain technology and AI is the new frontier in the fight against cybercrime. GlobalGuard will connect a network of collaborators to identify and thwart cyber threats instantaneously.”

- Leigh Travers, CEO DigitalX

Today (March 14) our partners DigitalX announced GlobalGuard to the ASX.

Read the announcement doc, here.

(Photo: Leigh Travers and I at the MailGuard HQ.)

The new venture

GlobalGuard’s algorithm was originally developed by MailGuard, in collaboration with Deakin University. We are also working with Microsoft, Ernst and Young, DigitalX and others to bring the GlobalGuard neural network to life.

Although GlobalGuard is a new venture for me, in a very real way the MailGuard team has been working on this project for years now. It’s long been our view that cybersecurity needs to constantly evolve to remain effective. Cybercriminals are always looking for new tools and strategies to scam companies, so we have to be forward-looking in our approach to defence as well.

GlobalGuard will be a mechanism for real-time collaboration to correct the imbalance of cybercrime prevention; it’s going to leverage the past seventeen years of MailGuard threat data and IP, in combination with an artificially intelligent neural network that’s trained to detect cybersecurity threats.

Everyone working on this project is holding a piece of the puzzle. GlobalGuard puts all the pieces together to solve it. On an ongoing basis, we want to be working with the most advanced technology and the smartest minds to optimise our defence against cyber-attacks.

The strength and calibre of our partnership network shows that this is a global problem that needs a united solution. We are pleased to be working with universities, large corporations and tech experts from around the world to make the GlobalGuard platform the smartest it can be.

We’re actively seeking new partnerships and I’m encouraging businesses to find us on globalguard.io

GlobalGuard is about faster, better security for everyone

We want to make sure people and businesses are safe when they connect, interact or do business online.

60% of small to medium businesses that suffer a cyber-attack are out of business within 6 months. The economy here in Australia is made up of small businesses, so what impact is that going to have on the rest of us if their doors shut? What effect on the economy is that going to have?

Even the world’s largest companies and governments can’t win the war on cybercrime by acting alone.

 A collaborative approach to having conversations with peers, applying knowledge to our customer base, our downstream, our collaborators is essential; we’ve all got to participate in stopping these threats from occurring.

The power of Blockchain is to facilitate collaboration and incentivise people to work together, but of course, the weakness of any currency system is its vulnerability to attack and theft. For us, a cybersecurity company, entering the Blockchain space is a win-win. This is an opportunity to leverage massive scale collaboration - to build an unprecedented community of cybercrime-fighters - and at the same time offer new and better tools to stop criminals attacking Blockchain infrastructure.

Get involved

GlobalGuard will be launching later in 2018, so stay tuned. To keep up with all the news, check out globalguard.io and follow my LinkedIn.