On 7th March, dignitaries, government officials, corporate investors, as well as promising entrepreneurs gathered at Google Inc. headquarters in DC to discuss the pressing issue of cybersecurity. One of the startups that delivered a presentation during the V4 Cybersecurity Conference was Cyberus Labs, a disruptive Polish company that aims to redefine authentication systems.
Cyberus Labs offers a unique solution of a password-less login procedure. Their product – Cyberus Key – allows the users to log into an account within two seconds, without typing in any passwords. The core mechanism is an audio signal with an encrypted one-time pad that guarantees the security of authentication. (You can read about them in more detail here).
During the visit, Marek Ostafil, Cyberus Labs’ COO, has participated in meetings with US Senator Joe Manchin, accelerators Mach37 and 1776, as well as representatives of numerous American companies and investors.
“All meetings with American partners showed one very important thing that should be cautiously considered in Poland: it is about pragmatism and solving problems,” stresses Ostafil. “It is all about effective solutions, creating real ecosystems, and cooperation. Partners engaged in accelerator programs really contribute to them. It is not only a marketing tool; it is real engagement, sharing knowledge, and experience – also talking about failures as a great learning tool.”
“Above all, the main aim is to make things happen. Partnerships are supposed to bring real value, bring development and focus on implementation. There is no time (and no money) for making projects just for their own sake. Money must be spent wisely and efficiently. Return on investment is a crucial metric. Innovation (that is right now such a fashionable term) for its own sake is not important. Problem solving and effectiveness – that’s the key. And that is real innovation – doing something better, solving real problems.”
The V4 Cybersecurity Conference was organized by the Visegrad Group (V4) – the Embassy of Poland (currently holding the presidency in V4) in cooperation with the Embassies of Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. During the conference, these four countries showcased their region as a dynamic innovation ecosystem. Each country could present two startups that develop cybersecurity technologies such as cyberattack detection, access management solutions and AI-based fraud detection systems.
#cyberuslabs startup presets itself in Google V4 Cybersec Conference in Washington. @MR_GOV_PL is proud of them 🙂 pic.twitter.com/2NQnY9BdIC
— Jadwiga Emilewicz (@JEmilewicz) March 7, 2017
Two featured keynote speakers at the conference were U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (organization’s honorary chair and current member of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence) and Mrs. Jadwiga Emilewicz, Undersecretary of State at the Poland’s Ministry of Economic Development. Mrs. Emilewicz was also the head of the Polish delegation during the meetings concerning cooperation in the field of cybersecurity between the Visegrad Group and the USA.
“The V4 Cybersecurity conference itself was a great chance for exchanging views and opinions,” Ostafil summed up. “One of the topics was data privacy and legal issues connected with it. Again, finding practical solutions was the key problem here. Similarly, a presentation of former New York Mayor, Mr. Rudolf Giuliani, underlined the practical approach in finding right solutions in cybersecurity.”
