An innovative solution for monitoring cyberthreats on the dark web and the clear web
Running time: 9m 46s
Liette Lamonde, Prompt Managing Director talks to Mathieu Lavoie from Flare, who has developed a solution for real-time monitoring of cyberthreats on the dark web and the clear web.
(Liette) How do you detect cyberthreat risks?
We monitor and collect anti-cybercrime communications and information exchanges on illicit communities on a daily basis. We analyze documents to detect threats, ongoing attacks or breaches of shared information. We then collect this information and pass it on to the organizations concerned, so that they can be alerted quickly and take action. We call this actionable intelligence – intelligence about cyber threats. We also do this for all data on the open web, where it can happen that information is leaked by employees, not maliciously, but accidentally.
(Liette) I know you’ve done some collaborative work, including a project we funded with Flare and a financial institution. What’s it like doing collaborative projects with academia or research centers for an organization like yours?
When we started this collaboration, we were still a post-funding company, so quite young. Having a major partner join us in a collaborative project was recognition of our technology and credibility. It gave us access to resources, a better understanding of their needs and enabled us to evolve with them.
(Liette) You mentioned the advantages, but I’m sure there were difficulties too.
Indeed, as with any research project, there can be challenges. I would say that the notion of urgency is not the same for an established company as it is for a company in survival mode. So, of course, for some projects, it’s more complex to get the meetings in advance. We’re also a bit dependent on what I call the short-termism of big companies. Their short term may be equivalent to our medium term, let’s put it that way, but we’re not at the same pace.
