Israeli security startup CyberRidge has emerged from stealth mode with $26 million in funding for its photonic encryption solution.
Following a $10 million seed investment round led by Awz, the company raised a $16 million extension from Arkin Capital, Elron Ventures, Redseed VC, and the EU Horizon-EIC program.
Founded in 2021, Tel Aviv-based CyberRidge has built a plug-and-play photonic layer transmission system that transforms transmitted data into encrypted optical noise to prevent interception and deciphering.
According to the deep-tech cybersecurity startup, its photonic encryption solution makes the data immune to traditional in-transit interception tools, while also preventing quantum analysis.
To process the transmitted data, a proprietary photonic key is required. The key changes constantly and should be present the instant the data arrives, or it is lost forever.
CyberRidge has built the data transmission solution in preparation for the post-quantum era, to prevent ‘harvest now, decrypt later’ attacks, in which encrypted data is captured and stored to be decrypted using quantum computers, when they become available.
The real-time, photonics-based protection, the startup says, prevents data harvesting entirely, adding a protective photonic “shield” that is being transmitted through public infrastructure.
Multiple organizations in the defense, intelligence, and telecommunications sectors in Europe, Australia, and Singapore, including Israel’s military intelligence unit, are already deploying the system, CyberRidge says.
The company has 30 employees and partners operating across Israel, Switzerland, and the US, and it recently received a flagship grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC).
“Encryption assumes your data will be stolen and tries to slow attackers down. We’re taking a fundamentally different approach: eliminate the ability to record the data in the first place. If no raw data exists, there’s nothing to hack, today or years from now, no matter how powerful the computer,” CyberRidge founder and CEO Dan Sadot said.
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