Knostic Wins 2024 Black Hat Startup Spotlight Competition
BLACK HAT USA – Las Vegas – Wednesday, Aug. 7 – Knostic, an innovative LLM (Large Language Model) access-control company, has won the prestigious 2024 Startup Spotlight competition at Black Hat USA. The announcement was made by Eitan Worcel, CEO of Mobb Security, last year’s winner. Sounil Yu, the founder and CTO of Knostic, was present to accept the award.
The Competition Process
The competition began with each group submitting a five-minute video pitch to present their cybersecurity solutions. These startups showcased products in various stages, from development to launch. Out of many entries, four finalists were selected: LeakSignal, RAD Security, DryRun Security, and Knostic. These finalists presented their final pitches in a Shark Tank-style competition.
The Judges Panel
The judges included Omdia analysts Ketaki Borade, Hollie Hennessy, and Rik Turner; Coleen Coolidge of Twilio; Trey Ford of Deepwatch; Maria Markstedter of Azeria Labs; Lucas Nelson of VC firm Lytical Ventures; and Robert J. Stratton III of startup accelerator MACH37.
Finalists and Their Innovations
LeakSignal
LeakSignal aims to classify and protect sensitive data within APIs. The platform, built with Rust, blocks sensitive data before logging and redacts it during outbound API calls. The team plans to expand the platform’s support for more complex AI models and refine its data classification algorithms.
RAD Security
RAD Security focuses on cloud-native development security. The company offers custom detection and response plans for cloud infrastructure, creating fingerprints of normal enterprise behavior to detect anomalies. This helps in identifying and responding to cyberattacks effectively.
DryRun Security
DryRun Security provides automated, behavioral code reviews to identify risks. Using Contextual Security Analysis (CSA), the company conducts over 10,000 secure code reviews for its customers. This developer-first tool analyzes code changes based on static patterns and behaviors.
Knostic – The Winner
Knostic, with 12 employees and $4.4 million in pre-seed funding, prevents internal generative AI tools from leaking sensitive data. The platform uses a knowledge control layer based on employees' permissions. For example, an HR user querying an internal chatbot about sales revenue sees non-sensitive insights, while a CEO sees the actual figures. Knostic currently works with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and plans to expand to other SaaS tools.
Reaction from the Winner
Yu expressed his anxiety and excitement about presenting among other talented finalists. He emphasized the importance of the opportunity to present to such a high-profile audience and praised the value brought by all contestants. "All finalists deserve attention because it means there's real value that we're producing," said Yu.
