In a packed room at Black Hat USA, Eitan Worcel, the CEO of Mobb Security, made an exciting announcement last night. He revealed that the winner of last year’s Startup Spotlight competition, Mobb Security, was passing the torch to the new champion: Knostic, an LLM access-control company. The founder and CTO of Knostic, Sounil Yu, was present to accept the prestigious award.
The journey to victory was no easy feat for Knostic. The competition began with each group submitting a five-minute video pitch showcasing their cybersecurity startup and the innovative products and solutions they offered. From a pool of talented startups, the selection was narrowed down to four finalists: LeakSignal, RAD Security, DryRun Security, and Knostic. These finalists then had the opportunity to make their final pitch in a Shark Tank-style event at Black Hat USA.
The panel of judges for the competition included industry experts such as Omdia analysts Ketaki Borade, Hollie Hennessy, and Rik Turner, along with professionals from companies like Twilio, Deepwatch, and VC firm Lytical Ventures. The judges had the difficult task of evaluating each finalist’s pitch and determining the most promising cybersecurity startup.
LeakSignal, one of the finalists, presented an innovative data governance solution designed to classify and protect sensitive data. RAD Security focused on addressing security issues related to cloud native development, offering customized detection and response solutions. DryRun Security, another finalist, provided automated, behavioral code reviews to enhance application security.
However, it was Knostic that ultimately impressed the judges and emerged as the winner of the competition. With a team of 12 employees and a pre-seed funding of $4.4 million, Knostic aims to address the risk of sensitive data exposure from internal generative AI tools. By creating a knowledge control layer based on employees’ permissions, Knostic ensures that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive information.
During the presentation, Sounil Yu demonstrated how Knostic’s platform protects sensitive data within internal chatbots, showcasing the platform’s capabilities in real-time scenarios. Yu emphasized the importance of the “need to know” principle in data access and highlighted Knostic’s plans to expand support for LLMs in various software-as-a-service tools.
After being crowned the winner, Sounil Yu reflected on the intense competition and the validation that comes with presenting to such a distinguished audience. Despite the pressure and stress of the event, Yu expressed gratitude for the opportunity to showcase Knostic’s value among other deserving finalists.
Overall, the Black Hat Startup Spotlight competition was a testament to the innovative solutions and talent in the cybersecurity industry. As Knostic takes the spotlight as this year’s winner, the future looks bright for this emerging LLM access-control company.