Vulnerability remediation startup Mobb emerged as the winner of the Startup Spotlight competition at Black Hat USA 2023, beating out other startups focused on different aspects of cybersecurity. The competition, which took place on Wednesday, August 9 in Las Vegas, showcased the innovative solutions offered by these up-and-coming companies.
The four finalists – Binarly, Endor Labs, Gomboc.ai, and Mobb – were selected after participating in a video pitch competition held in June. These companies were then given the opportunity to present their ideas in front of a panel of judges during the conference at the Startup City theater. To qualify for the competition, the companies had to be less than 2 years old and have fewer than 50 employees.
Mobb stood out among the finalists with its confident presentation about its capabilities in vulnerability remediation. The startup aims to bridge the gap between developers and security professionals, ensuring improved security measures and increased productivity. The judges were particularly impressed by Mobb’s ability to bring different parts of the business together and address the challenges of cybersecurity effectively.
Artificial intelligence (AI) was a common theme among all the presentations. While some startups explicitly highlighted their use of AI, others mentioned it as an underlying component of their technology. The judges recognized the value of AI in cybersecurity solutions and expressed their interest in witnessing further innovation in this space.
Each finalist had the opportunity to pitch their ideas to the judges. Binarly, led by CEO and founder Alex Matrosov, emphasized the significance of firmware security, as compromised firmware can lead to overall vulnerabilities. Binarly’s binary analysis tool identifies both known and unknown vulnerabilities in firmware, ensuring transparency and security for devices that utilize vulnerable components.
Endor Labs, co-founded by Varun Badhwar, focused on open source code security. The company aims to assist developers in making better choices with code and fixing vulnerabilities in open source components. By employing a recommendation engine and vetting packages for vulnerable code, Endor Labs addresses the issue of the developer productivity tax and offers valuable insights for decision-making.
Gomboc.ai, founded by Ian Amit, highlighted the importance of remediating cloud infrastructure issues. With its team of cloud infrastructure experts, Gomboc.ai uses AI to apply defined security policies. The platform allows security teams to easily define policies using regular language, and the AI engine determines the appropriate cloud configuration based on those policies. This method ensures that security engineers do not need to learn every possible configuration across different cloud environments.
Mobb’s CEO and co-founder, Eitan Worcel, presented the company’s focus on saving organizations money through efficient vulnerability remediation. By assigning confidence scores to various parts of the code, Mobb provides recommendations on how to fix vulnerabilities based on industry best practices. The platform accepts vulnerability scanning reports from various static application security testing tools, simplifying the remediation process for developers.
The judges were impressed by Mobb’s straightforward approach to solving the vulnerability remediation issue and saving time for developers. The high costs associated with cloud security were among the top challenges identified in the recent Omdia Decision Maker Survey, making Mobb’s cost-saving solution highly relevant and valuable for enterprises.
Overall, the Startup Spotlight competition at Black Hat USA 2023 showcased the cutting-edge innovations and solutions offered by these cybersecurity startups. The event highlighted the importance of bridging the gap between developers and security professionals, prioritizing vulnerability remediation, and harnessing the power of AI in cybersecurity solutions. These startups have the potential to reshape the cybersecurity landscape and address the ever-evolving challenges faced by organizations.