Korean startups in the cybersecurity sector have been coming out with products and services for many years now. The demand now is higher than ever before. You can see this in that South Korea has a major shortage of experienced cybersecurity professionals to fill open positions. The high demand is that cybercrime is estimated to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. However, with the advancement of AI, machine learning and a new breed of hackers, cybersecurity startups in Korea have been attracting a lot of funding to develop products or services to secure applications for remote workers and product users data as it travels from the cloud to IoT devices.
The cybersecurity sector is growing in Korea due to the constant digital transformation, regulatory compliance, increased security threats, and the need for faster, more efficient response capabilities. Many investors in Korea see cybersecurity investments as a safe investment as the startups are solving security challenges that are not going away anytime soon. Here are Korea’s top cybersecurity startups to watch for in 2024.
Top Cybersecurity Startups in Korea
SsenStone
Korean Fintech startup SsenStone is a digital security startup that offers a safer way for online credit card use. It produces a one-time credit card number that changes every time a new transaction is made. The technology is called Virtual One Time Code (VOTC). VOTC creates a virtual number that cannot be duplicated for more than 1 million uses. In addition, the number recognizes the cardholder every time without any network connection. While there has been a lot of security improvement regarding offline card transactions, there are few in the online space. More than 70% of credit card fraud cases come from online/eCommerce transactions.
“The beauty of our technology is there is no need to install extra machines or infrastructure to apply it. We can block all cases of CNP fraud, without more complicated token methods,” said SSenStone CEO Yoo Chang-Hun.
SsenStone hopes to license its technology to credit card companies and form a strategic partnership with online payment service providers and security companies. In addition, they developed the next-generation authentication solution called Fast Identity Online or a FIDO-certified platform called StonePASS. Furthermore, the company made over $45 million in 2018 and investments from Sparklabs and Lotte Accelerator.
Spiceware
Korean cybersecurity startups – Spicware is a cloud-native privacy protection service for businesses seeking cloud data security. It offers a comprehensive PII (Personally Identifiable Information) Lifecycle Platform. PII can mean many things such as a name, phone number, address, and even your voice/fingerprint.
Their comprehensive automated cloud-native PII protection service offers not only CDE (Collection, Detection, and Encryption) but also real-time Management of PII access logs. It is a cost-effective and convenient cloud security protection service in the category of Privacy-Preserving in Analytics that integrates seamlessly into all cloud databases without code modifications by using its patented technology. In addition, Spiceware is an official network technology partner of AWS.
TEEware
TEEware is a startup founded by the Information Security Lab at KAIST. They provide cutting-edge data encryption and key management solutions. They use the latest technologies such as TEE (Trusted Execution Environment). Therefore their solutions deliver a high level of security, scalability, availability, and ease of use to address security and operational requirements for various applications in areas such as the Cloud, Blockchain, IoT, Fintech, and more.
Their latest product is a large-scale Key Management solution in a cloud environment called KangaLock vHSM. TEEware was able to redesign the traditional HSM from the ground up to overcome its limitations to support new requirements emerging in the era of cloud computing.
Cloudbric
Cybersecurity startups in Korea- Cloudbric is a cybersecurity startup that offers web security, mobile security, remote access, and blockchain solutions. Users are given 24-hour security management with real-time notifications and responses to incoming threats at an affordable price. In addition, users can use the data received in attacks to get personalized security recommendations. Furthermore, the Cloudbric Console is easy to use and offers real-time insights and customizable settings based on your security needs.
Cloudbric has partnered with Microsoft Azure, AWS, and many more businesses. Moreover, Cloudbric offers security services to over 10,000 organizations in over 25 countries.
S2W
Korean cybersecurity startups – S2W provides data analysis of the Dark Web of bad actors that are active in regards to accessing and purchasing information regarding credit cards, passport numbers, passwords, and other details across the web. S2W specializes in cybersecurity data focused on responding to and detecting new cyber threats like ransomware. They have major customers in finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, and E-commerce. Moreover, they supply technology cooperation and data to smart security big data platforms and INTERPOL (The International Criminal Police Organization).
S2W can access a vast amount of data related to the Dark Web with machine learning technology. Their team comprises network researchers from KAIST (Korea’s Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). They have raised over $10 million for their Series B funding. LB Investment, KDB Development Bank, Magellan Technology Investment, YG Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Lotte Ventures, and DS Asset Management participated in the round. S2W also established its subsidiary S2W US in early 2022.
SecuLetter
Cybersecurity startups in Korea – SecuLetter offers cybersecurity solutions by applying advanced analytical techniques of malicious code analysts. These solutions can detect unknown attacks with hybrid approaches and static and dynamic analysis to stop cybercriminals. They focus on stopping email threats and blocking zero-day attacks. Moreover, they aim to diagnose and analyze unknown malware accurately and quickly through an automated reverse engineering platform that provides multi-layer protection. SecuLetter raised $8 million for their series B funding round.
Genians
Genians has developed a platform that securely connects People to People, People to Things, and Things to Things, ensuring safety without sacrificing performance. Their platform can scan and control user devices as they connect to the network, looking for data and behavior that could impact your business. Whether the threats are from insiders or external sources, real-time detection and prevention will enhance the integrity of both enterprise and personal data.
Genians has consolidated the complexity of NAC and EDR into a single cybersecurity platform. Therefore, this allows users to collect data from various resources, correlate the information, and perform the contextual access control required to illuminate, assess, and enforce your entire network environment. Lastly, it provides a holistic defense method against ever-evolving cybersecurity threats.
EYL
EYL offers the World’s “Smallest, Cheapest, Fastest & Most Energy-efficient” Quantum Random Number Generators & Applications. Developed by EYL, the quantum random number generator is a unique and innovative technology that provides the ultimate randomness that can improve information security.
Currently, most encryption systems use random numbers generated by software algorithms (pseudo-random number generators) as keys for their convenience and speed, but they are increasingly vulnerable to hacking. Therefore, hackers can steal or guess encryption keys, made easier by weak entropy produced by poor random number generators.
F1 Security
F1 Security provides web security solutions developed by industry consulting experts in cybersecurity. They have a family of web-based solutions that contribute to building a more secure web environment from hacking through web application firewalls, web shell detection solutions, and web shell scanners. Moreover, their solution has many practical use cases in Government, Enterprises, SMEs, and MSSPs.
F1Security WSFinder can be easily installed by downloading the Agent software from an intuitive central management system. WSFinder uses algorithms built on its technology to detect a web shell accurately and quickly. Therefore, detected web shells are quarantined to block remote access, protecting them from additional damage such as data leakage, web page forgery, and malware distribution.
SECURION (OnAV)
Cybersecurity startups in Korea – SECURION is the creator of OnAV, a scanner integrated with machine learning Anti-virus software to protect Android devices. The scanner can be applied to SmartTVs, Smartwatches, and other IoT products. Furthermore, it can detect and block malicious apps in real time. In addition, it does vulnerability scans and will look over Android OS update history and patch availability. OnAV has already gotten five worldwide global certifications.
