CIO Influence Interview with Kobi Kalif is the CEO and co-founder of ReasonLabs

Kobi Kalif, CEO and co-founder of ReasonLabs talks about the challenges and strategies in providing enterprise-grade cybersecurity to home users, the future of cybersecurity, and the evolving role of AI in this landscape in the Q&A:

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Welcome, Kobi, to our CIO Influence Interview Series! Walk us through your role and journey as CEO and Co-founder of ReasonLabs.

Thank you for having me.

I’m an entrepreneur and engineer who’s worked in and around cybersecurity for more than 15 now, with a background in research & development. I’ve worked with many startups over the years and ultimately came together with Andrew Newman who founded ReasonLabs in 2016 with the mission to provide every user around the world with enterprise-grade protection.

Also Read: Advanced Threat Detection with Managed Security Service Providers

ReasonLabs offers enterprise-grade cybersecurity to home users. What are the top challenges in adapting these advanced solutions?

Adapting these solutions for consumers is simple from the external point of view – give them the same type and degree of protection that large corporations use. On the backend, however, it’s easier said than done. For example, it took years to perfect our EDR and make it sustainable and efficient to monitor millions of endpoints in real time. We also needed to ensure our products are simple to use but still provide enterprise-grade protection.

What projections do you have around the future of cybersecurity, and how is ReasonLabs preparing for it?

We have witnessed a widespread digitization process of things that we used to do face-to-face over the past 15 years. We are moving our lives into the digital sphere at a phenomenal pace. Our data, personal information, and identity will eventually all be online, therefore we must make sure they are protected.

First, we see countless new attack vectors. The main challenge however will be digital identity protection for our personal information, such as SSN, ID, and credit cards, to our “online” ID at different social accounts and services. We see huge growth in online scams and unfortunately, the security gap is quite large. From tax fraud to credit theft, scams happen daily and it’s one of the main problems we face in the immediate future.

Another challenge is implementation. With the adoption of AI tools, it has become much easier to fake information – from text to images and even voice. This makes the security process even more difficult.

We must understand that the solutions we plan to create have to protect us from the new age threats. Antivirus is an essential piece to the cybersecurity puzzle, but it’s not the solution to the challenges consumers will face down the road. We need to focus on prevention to avoid leaking sensitive data, and protection so that if the data is leaked, we will have control over the key points that might harm us like our credit, bank account, credit score, and so on.

With the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, how is ReasonLabs enhancing its capabilities to predict and prevent attacks more effectively?

We are always working to improve our threat intelligence and provide users with protection against next-generation threats. We use advanced LLMs to power our EDR so our capabilities are always evolving. We can cross every signal with 3 main aspects: device, privacy, and identity using multiple and different tools that allow us to show a complete picture to our customers. From that, we can take the right action to get full protection.

Also Read: The Rise of Quantum Computing in Enterprise IT

Are there any specific initiatives or programs that ReasonLabs is undertaking to educate the broader public about cybersecurity best practices?

Our threat researchers often produce original data reports and white papers that detail findings of new threats and vulnerabilities. We offer advice and educational materials for users so they can prepare themselves for whatever they might encounter. Our Consumer Cybersecurity Trends Report is a perfect example of this. Another is the findings we detailed last year regarding pirated copies of Super Mario Bros. that installed a malicious web extension on devices. These are just a few examples that show our dedication to educating home users and providing them with the necessary resources to stay protected.

How do you see the role of artificial intelligence evolving in the cybersecurity landscape over the next five years?

AI is and will continue to play a significant role in the cybersecurity landscape, specifically for home users. This impact is two-fold:

1. Cyber attackers are leveraging AI to create more advanced scams, threats, and attack vulnerabilities.
2. Users can be better protected against those threats with tools like ReasonLabs’ EDR which is powered by AI.

As threat actors continue to evolve their tactics by leveraging the latest in AI, we as cybersecurity providers must keep up with the pace of change. We must use AI to stop ongoing threats and prevent future ones.

As a leader, what principles do you follow to foster a culture of innovation and responsibility within your team?

The cybersecurity ecosystem is exciting with huge challenges and fast-paced innovations. A key area I focus on is trying to solve future challenges, not just the current ones. I take that perspective and try to implement that vision within our company. I challenge the team to think forward and present opportunities on how we can achieve goals.

For example, when we talk about AI, which is evolving at an incredible pace, we need to think unconventionally. We must think ahead to forecast how it will be utilized by cybercriminals and from there, try to build solutions to prevent it.

We also need to evolve our thinking about usage. Corporations can decide on specific steps to ensure protection ie. Company X can decide that downloading files from the internet is not allowed. This method is less relevant for consumers as we understand that people want to use everything the online world has to offer. We must accept that we can only prevent some issues and cybercriminals will find a way to bypass some of the defenses.

This is why we need to approach consumer protection the same way corporates do and enable a zero-trust architecture at some points with the proper rulings. This way, even if a cybercriminal steals my SSN, we can take measures to be protected by freezing credit cards, monitoring credit scores, and more.

Also Read: The Top Five Must-Haves for Picking an AI Security Solution

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