Blog 07.02.19

Interview with Paul Stokes, CEO and Co-Founder of Prevalent AI about Cyber Security

This month we caught up with Paul Stokes, CEO and co-founder of Prevalent AI, to discuss the role of data science and cyber security. Prevalent AI help companies understand, deploy and support the most advanced security solutions.

Tell us about Prevalent AI and your role.

Prevalent is a Security Data Science company. Our offering is built on combining deep security Tradecraft expertise from government and the private sector, combined with technology built on Big Data and Data Science. 

As CEO and co-founder I run the business on a daily basis, and also chair an industry group that we founded called the Managed Security Forum.

What was the inspiration behind the founding of Prevalent AI? 

My co-founders and I saw the growing importance of Big Data and Data Science to cybersecurity, but we also noticed that these skillsets were siloed in many organisations. We set out to be the first to provide a truly integrated Security Data Science offering.

What are the main threats to businesses you work with?  

Everyone has read about nation state actors and a growing cybercrime economy, which represent serious threats. Businesses often buy a large range of sophisticated products to counter these threats, which creates complexity for the security teams tasked with operating these products. The effect of all this is that complexity and staff burnout are becoming an unseen threat to many businesses. 

Businesses are waking up to the fact that cyber and physical security are both operational risks, and that they frequently overlap.

How are cyber security threats evolving, and do you feel there are parallels in conventional security?

Businesses are waking up to the fact that cyber and physical security are both operational risks, and that they frequently overlap. Using state of the art cyber tools to protect your data is pointless if someone can just walk into your office and start printing things out, and employing the best physical security is similarly ineffective if your intellectual property is not secured online.

Can you explain what security data science is in a nutshell? 

Security Data Science is the integration of Tradecraft, Big Data and Data Science. We see the value from these three fields to be in how well they are integrated and work together.  

How do you use data science to help clients?

Data science is a way of spotting patterns and drawing insights from company data. This could be a way to find connections between staff behaviour and information being exfiltrated, or an analysis of the access that vendors and third parties have to sensitive company data. 

We offer clients a dedicated Security Data Science team that allows them full flexibility when applying our platform. 

Where do you see the security benefits of partnerships between cyber suppliers like Prevalent AI and conventional suppliers like Vigilance? 

Being as secure as possible means covering off all potential risks. Many companies now hire Chief Security Officers to either replace or manage Chief Information Security Officers. If this function is being integrated on the customer side then it makes sense for suppliers to be able to partner to offer a more comprehensive level of security.

If you had to recommend one key cyber security priority for businesses of all sizes to protect themselves, what would that be?

I would recommend that companies look to integrate physical and information security. This should be a streamlining rather than a complication of existing security processes, and the end goal should be a fully integrated and easily managed set of security controls.

The challenge in future is going to be how we can secure data that we do not own.

How do you see the cyber security industry and businesses’ access to services evolving over the next five years?

Smaller businesses will work exclusively within Google Apps or Microsoft 365, while bigger businesses will treat cyber security as an operational risk and invest to mitigate it accordingly. Data belonging to companies and individuals is increasingly being stored in the cloud. The challenge in future is going to be how we can secure data that we do not own.

Vigilance thanks Paul and his team at Prevalent AI for taking the time to share their expertise with us. If you’d like to read more or get in touch with Prevalent AI, please visit their website www.prevalent.ai

Vigilance work across public, private and commercial sectors. Please get in touch regarding your security requirements, including cyber security, so we can create a bespoke security package based on individual assessments of your needs. Call us now on 020 3416 5340.