Israel is home to around 450 active startups in the field of cybersecurity, according to a recent report in Reuters. Now, the one with perhaps the most distinctive name of them all is announcing some funding for a novel approach to authentication. Secret Double Octopus — which borrows a concept from the world of nuclear launch codes to build extra-secure, but simple, keyless authentication services — is announcing that it has raised $6 million in funding.
The Series A includes backing from Jerusalem Venture Partners, Liberty Media’s Israel Venture Fund, Iris Capital, Benhamou Global Ventures and angel investor Yaniv Tal, and will be used to expand the startup’s R&D and business development in the U. S. and Europe.
Cybercrime and malicious hacking are on the rise, and Israel, a country known for its security services, is positioning itself as one of the leading regions when it comes to producing solutions to tackle this issue. Just earlier today, another security startup called Illusive Networks — which focuses on deception-based protection — announced new backing from Microsoft Ventures.
Founded by a group of academics and IT industry execs — Professor Shlomi Dolev (chief science officer), Dr Shimrit Tzur-David (CTO), Raz Rafaeli (CEO) and Chen Tetelman (VP R&D) — Secret Double Octopus is a reference to how the company describes its approach to authentication, which is modelled on how nuclear launch codes are created.
Typically, with nuclear weapons, several people will have a piece of the full launch code, and nothing will launch unless all those pieces fit together, and fit correctly.
