Darktrace’s CEO Poppy Gustafsson on what it is like leading one of the UK’s best AI start-ups

In the area of artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security startup Darktrace is just one of the most exciting companies in the space.

Founded in Cambridge five decades ago with a combination of mathematicians, former intelligence agents, along with experts from the technology business, it has rapidly risen to the top of the UK tech scene, gaining a enviable unicorn valuation of about $ 1.25 billion along the way.



In addition to the exciting AI technology that is transforming cyber protection, the provider is also unique in that it has two female CEOs, Poppy Gustafsson and Nicole Eagan.

When some technology businesses can barely fit one woman on their board, it is good to visit Darktrace championing women in technology this manner.


"It's only something I'm conscious of when I'm doing interviews or when I'm at a business event and suddenly you find a sea of men staring back at you," CEO Gustafsson informs.

"It is only ever a fleeting glimpse and then you get back on with it"

This no-nonsense attitude has propelled Gustafsson into her high-flying spot at Darktrace and cemented her as one of the technology industry's ones to see. Here's what https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/26/darktrace-raises-50-million-new-funding/ will need to learn about Gustafsson.

The shifting battlegrounds

Gustafsson has been the minority sex for almost all of her lifetime, beginning with her maths degree in the University of Sheffield. She analyzed an accountancy qualification at Deloitte, until working for a venture capital company and a couple of tech firms until the chance to join Darktrace's founding team came together.

She says the ambitions for the firm were what brought her. "We knew we had a phenomenal product and we wanted to have a global reach very quickly."



It's interesting discussing Darktrace's beginnings with Gustafsson since you need to cast your mind back to five decades ago when cyber protection was not considered as interesting or integral to businesses because it's now.



Currently, every week appears to be another company announcing a data violation; many lately Timehop. Darktrace has flourished with this background, growing out of the original area in Cambridge into 33 offices around the globe.

What has been happening?
"[But] our creators thought that at any point the cyber breach was unavoidable so we will have to consider identifying the assault in the first phases and halting it."

"What the immune system does is it has an innate sense of self -- it knows who you are and can identify a virus that arrives into the body by virtue of this fact it's not possible," she states.

Through this, the technician can determine an attack and target the reaction by slowing it down and quitting it breaches do not escalate and become a issue.

Preparing for the Upcoming big cyber threat

Residing in an increasingly connected world has important implications for the cyber security functions in our companies and in home, thanks to our changing relationships with technology.


"Cyber security is not just laptops and servers anymore," clarifies Gustafsson. " http://bit.ly/2sxTZPG can observe a smart TV plus a intelligent fish tank that's internet connected to regulate the temperature of their water, and it has all these unconventional internet-connected apparatus which are expanding the hazard surface that attackers can utilize and exploit."

Darktrace has to be constantly innovating to keep up with those struggles so as to be able to confront the bad guys, something Gustafsson explains as a technological arms race.

"We are an organisation which has technology and innovation in its center and we have made huge leaps and bounds but it's merely a matter of time ahead of the hackers of the world are leveraging those technology improvements with regards to their own approach."


Internet of Things apparatus, like the Amazon Echo, are opening up more security concern points in our houses

However, security is not just about strikes in the nation states and worldwide hacking classes. Gustafsson says that one of the largest problems in cyber protection is human error. "99 percent of this time we are demonstrating companies [issues] during pitches they had been oblivious of."

There was the time in which Darktrace was pitching to a law firm with a worker swipe card system. A fantastic idea but it was:"Every time someone swiped the drinks machine, all of the private details from the swipe were moving into the beverages seller."

Darktrace was able to contact the seller and get it sorted straight away, but this is an example of an unintentional attack. It shows that the biggest threats from your company may come from within. "That was a consequence of the community not being put up in ways they thought it had been.

Life on top

Gustafsson sets Darktrace's success down to its capacity to question the status quo. "From the beginning we contested the idea that cyber security was all about keeping the bad guys out, directly through to the fact that we are talked about as a organisation that's led by 2 women. In our minds, there is no reason why it wouldn't be."

This top-down choice does make it an sin among tech companies and it impacts the business culture.


"When you make a tech organisation that is gender agnostic, individuals thrive respective whether they are male or female," she says.

However, it's hard leading a company which is so spread out across the world and keeping that company culture in 33 offices. Gustafsson admits she no longer understands the faces and names of Darktrace's employees, over 700 to become exact, because of the rapid growth.

"But I would like to be sure they continue to feel a part of this superb organisation. It is ensuring the culture is exactly the same whether you're operating in Cambridge or Brazil.

And, she hopes that the more people will be encouraged to join the area. For anybody seeking to get into tech or security particularly, her advice is to research maths or computer science.

"I would strongly urge anyone who wanted to explore the way to do it and don't ever accept someone saying they can not," she adds.