The AI web crawler shielding Five Eyes nations from insider threats


Stuart Mason
Contributor

Everyday, governments and law enforcement agencies are using technology developed by an Adelaide company to trawl through countless online data and make potentially life-saving security assessments.

Fivecast, based in South Australia, is a pioneer in open-source intelligence solutions and now boasts customers at all levels of government in the Five Eyes nations, the US Department of Defense and the Spanish National Police. 

Using Fivecast’s range of technologies, these users are able to access and assess critical information from a range of online sources, sifting through this at a scale not possible using only humans. 

Fivecast chief executive and co-founder Brenton Cooper

This includes the monitoring of the dark web and deep web, and helping to identify where and how threat actors communicate online, something which is key to intelligence investigations around the world. 

Fivecast’s MATRIX tools allows for large-scale and automated risk assessments to be conducted on this data with the help of generative artificial intelligence. 

Using MATRIX, analysts can access automated, integrated and timely risk analysis of millions of pieces of publicly available content in order to uncover threats and risks. 

Fivecast’s MATRIX is a finalist in the Defence, Dual-Use Technology and Space category and AI Industry Pioneer category at the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence. This category is sponsored by Q-CTRL. You can secure your tickets to the black-tie gala event here.

In Australia, Fivecast is deploying its range of technologies through a $10 million, three-year deal with the Australian Government Security Vetting agency. The company has also been assisting those operating in the critical infrastructure space in Australia comply with new laws requiring insider threat detection and supply chain risk management programs. 

This has helped to boost Fivecast’s impressive financial results, with forecasts annual recurring revenue growth of more than 70 percent in the current financial year. This is on the back of a $30 million Series A round last year led by US-based cybersecurity venture capital firm Ten Eleven. 

Fivecast’s MATRIX service is targeted at organisations that regularly conduct large-scale online risk assessments, providing AI-boosted services to assist in this crucial process. It has already been used across a range of industries, including security vetting and clearances, due diligence, anti-money laundering and insider threat detection. 

The tech helps to detect certain keywords, quotes, objects and text in near-limitless masses of online data, far beyond what a human would be able to do alone. It has leveraged the power of generative AI to transform how these organisations conduct online risk assessments, with an ability to automatically assess the risk in reams of data against predefined criteria. 

It centres around an approach of assisting the decision-making of existing skilled analysts, rather than replacing them entirely. 

Fivecast MATRIX allows its range of clients to continuously and automatically assess public data, process thousands of risk assessments based on this data and use AI-based analytics to identify any relevant risks online. 

Looking for brand exposure in front of Australia’s tech ecosystem? Purchase a table of 10 for the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a ‘Table Sponsor’.  

The InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence are supported by: Australian Computer Society, Investment NSW, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Technology Council of Australia, TechnologyOne, National Artificial Intelligence Centre, CSIRO’s ON Innovation Program, Reason Group, Q-CTRL, University of New South Wales, and IP Australia. 

Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business. 

Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.

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