SkyGrid and SparkCognition Deploy First AI-Powered Cybersecurity System on Drones

High-performance, edge deployed cybersecurity platform will provide zero-day protection against advanced attacks

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Jan 19, 2021, 08:02 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SparkCognition, the world's leading industrial artificial intelligence (AI) company, and SkyGrid, a Boeing, SparkCognition company, today announced a new collaboration to deploy AI-powered cybersecurity directly on drones, protecting them from zero-day attacks during flight. Equipped with SparkCognition's DeepArmor® cybersecurity product, SkyGrid is the first airspace management system to enable drone protection powered by AI. This approach provides more advanced airspace security than traditional anti-malware reliant on signatures of known threats.

SkyGrid and SparkCognition are first to deploy AI-powered cybersecurity to protect drones during flight.

"In the near future, we'll essentially have a network of flying computers in the sky, and just like the computers we use today, drones can be hacked if not secured properly," said Amir Husain, CEO and founder of SparkCognition and SkyGrid. "In this emerging environment, traditional anti-malware technology won't be adequate to detect these never-before-seen attacks. SkyGrid is taking a new, intelligent approach by using AI to more accurately detect and prevent cyberattacks from impacting a drone, a payload, or a ground station."

Integrated with SkyGrid's airspace management system, AerialOS™, the DeepArmor product can be deployed directly on drone hardware to function even when network connectivity is impaired or non-existent. The AI protection defends drones from zero-day attacks by leveraging models trained on the DNA of malicious files instead of relying on a signature database.

SkyGrid and SparkCognition showcased the DeepArmor product's drone protection in a recent demonstration: https://youtu.be/syX_NevNJX0.

"We leveraged cutting-edge AI research and technology to build the DeepArmor product, which allows it to protect endpoints against 99.9% of never-before-seen threats," said Sridhar Sudarsan, Chief Technology Officer at SparkCognition. "In addition, the product's uniqueness lies in its ability to provide top-rate endpoint protection on the lowest footprint with minimal interference – all in varying degrees of connectivity. This is the true overarching security differentiator from which SkyGrid's customers will see value."

The DeepArmor product suite leverages SparkCognition's patented machine learning technology combined with a defense in depth mantra to provide multiple layers of protection on an endpoint – instead of using known signatures, heuristics, or rules-based approaches. The software protects a wide range of endpoints, with its most recent addition to the product suite, DeepArmor Industrial, launched in collaboration with Siemens Energy and designed to protect operational technology assets across the energy value chain.

SparkCognition's AI-first approach to cybersecurity and the DeepArmor product's advanced threat detection models have been validated by multiple awards, including 2020 Cyber Defense Magazine's award for best endpoint security and CRN's 2020 Security 100 List.

About SkyGrid
SkyGrid, a Boeing, SparkCognition company, is powering the next generation of aviation. As the only airspace management system built on AI and blockchain, SkyGrid is solving the industry's biggest challenges integrating unmanned aircraft in the global airspace and executing autonomous operations. SkyGrid's AerialOS™ monitors, predicts, and adapts to changes in airspace traffic, environmental conditions, and vehicle health to intelligently route, synchronize, and manage unmanned aircraft. Based in Austin, Texas, SkyGrid is enabling a wide variety of commercial drone operations from package delivery to emergency assistance. For more information, visit skygrid.com, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

About SparkCognition
SparkCognition catalyzes sustainable growth for their clients throughout the world with proven artificial intelligence (AI) systems, award-winning machine learning technology, and a multinational team of AI thought-leaders. Clients are trusted with advancing lives, infrastructure, sustainability, and financial systems across the globe. They partner with SparkCognition to understand their industry's most pressing challenges, analyze complex data, empower decision-making, and transform human and industrial productivity. With leading-edge artificial intelligence products—Darwin®️, DeepArmor ®️, SparkPredict ®️, and DeepNLP^TM—SparkCognition's clients can adapt to a rapidly changing digital landscape and accelerate their business strategies. To learn more about how SparkCognition's AI applications can unlock the power in your data, visit www.sparkcognition.com.

SOURCE SkyGrid