Edge Executive Insight – Inna Ushakova, CEO and President , AI EdgeLabs – Edge StartUp of the Year FINALIST
In the lead up to Edge Computing World, we’re taking some time to speak to key Executives from the leading companies. Today we’re talking with Inna Ushakova, CEO and President of AI EdgeLabs
Tell us a bit about yourself – what led you to get involved in the edge computing market and AI EdgeLabs
I’ve always been passionate about entrepreneurship and security, so it was only a matter of time before I found the perfect outlet to marry the two. First, in 2016, I co-founded and currently act as CEO of Scalarr, a company focused on helping clients detect and prevent mobile ad fraud, regardless of complexity. We managed to create the most accurate solution in the mobile ad space, yet I knew our security endeavors couldgo farther with the help of our profound expertise in AI.
Edge computing is contributing into a highly interconnected world but I saw the holes of a neglected infrastructure that was rendered vulnerable against cyber attacks. Seeing the pain points of our clients, it became clear that Edge and IoT infrastructures were severely under-protected, giving bad actors a large enough attack surface where safety measures were few and lax. Moreover, enterprises that implement Edge and have thousands of IoT devices can face hundreds of various use cases and security scenarios
due to the variety of business components under one umbrella. This makes the task of providing advanced cyber resilience really hard to accomplish, while each downtime can cost millions of dollars. Very often they need to use complex security solutions which are hard to install, set up and use on a daily basis. Shortage of highly qualified personnel is also a huge problem now.
That’s why our mission is to protect a new world of connectivity from any kind of threat and ongoing attacks immediately, in the way it demands.
Considering how the cyber hacking industry is changing, we should have the ability to respond to speedy and advanced machine-driven attacks with equivalent speed and sophistication. This is crucial to enable a dramatic reduction in downtime and increase SOC teams’ effectiveness. I would say it is vitally important.
AI EdgeLabs is a powerful and autonomous cybersecurity AI platform that helps security teams respond immediately to ongoing attacks and protect Edge/IoT infrastructures against malware, ransomware, DDoS, botnets, and other threats. AI EdgeLabs delivers cybersecurity measures by bringing network visibility, early threat detection, and automated security in Edge and on-prem environments.
What is it you & your company are uniquely bringing to the edge market?
For years, we’ve perfected our knowledge of AI, and have managed to become the industry’s most accurate cyber solution provider. Our platform detects threats on the fly and deploys automated remediation, stopping threats or attacks before they even have a chance to cause our clients any harm.
Each industry, be it railway, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, smart cities, and retail, to name a few, posed cyber risks and we address each of their challenges with accuracy and assertiveness.
Tell us more about the company, what’s your advantages compared to others on the market, who is involved, and what are your major milestones so far?
Our key solution advantages include:
AI-powered autonomous cybersecurity AI solution:
In real time responds immediately to ongoing attacks
- Protects your Edge/IoT critical infrastructure against malware, ransomware, DDoS, botnets, and other even unknown threats.
- Advanced network visibility for persistent and accurate threat monitoring with a centralized dashboard and network topology signaling both abnormal behavior and severity-based priority alerts.
- One click easy integration compatible with existing clients’ solutions
- Rich traffic inspection and threat monitoring with Deep Reinforcement Learning and threat modeling.
- Crisis, incident management, and automated remediation protocols to swiftly respond to threats and attacks.
How do you see the edge market developing over the next few years?
Increased edge adoption has the potential to change the world for the better, but it also creates more entry points for attack. In the future, I envision edge computing having a place in nearly every aspect of our lives, from improved patient care, smart urban facilities, safe autonomous vehicles, better precision agriculture, greater customer experience, and more, are only a few of the major shifts will see as a result of Edge computing changing the world as we know it.
If left unchecked or unprotected, edge computing and IoT devices will create a greater attack surface that cyber attackers are eager to penetrate, endangering business operations, business continuity, and even human lives.
What are the main trends you see about integrating edge computing into different verticals?
I see mostly positive outcomes as Edge is powering the next wave of digital transformation. We already see firsthand how crucial application modernization, digitization, and cloud adoption is for businesses to remain relevant and operational, and Edge is poised to take that to the next level.
In terms of protecting Edge, I expect to see more personalization and automation. Each vertical has unique use cases for Edge, and as such, cybersecurity solutions need to be equally unique in addressing each of their pain points. For example, the healthcare industry is tasked with protecting patient data and connected medical devices against data leaks and ransomware, making it crucial to protect the infrastructure against unauthorized access.
Undoubtedly, cybersecurity will need to be front and center in every company’s business strategy to secure business continuity and build business resilience, and I expect to see a growing trend across industries that pays stronger attention to securing Edge and IoT/OT devices.
