Understanding Cybeats, Relay Medical’s latest acquisition

Cybersecurity has never been more crucial than it is today, where billions of devices are connected to the Internet and at the same time further expanding the potential for data breaches worldwide.

That’s where a company like Toronto-based cybersecurity Cybeats comes in.

A recent acquisition by healthcare tech innovation company Relay Medical (Relay Medical Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials CSE:RELA) Cybeats has an integrated security platform to protect Internet of Things devices — and there are plenty of those, from wearables, connected cars and smart home appliances to industrial equipment and smart city infrastructure, with an expected doubling of IoT devices by 2025.

An explosion in the use of sensors and automated systems has coupled with the rise of faster, more reliable networks to make for a data flow of immense proportions, where connected tech is delivering more information at a faster rate than ever before.

Opinions differ on the numbers but a report last year from the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted that by 2025 there will be 55.7 billion connected devices worldwide, far outpacing the number of non-IoT-connected devices like smartphones and laptops.

From a cybersecurity perspective, one of the challenges is in delivering device protection without impeding performance, a focus of Cybeats’ technology, which incorporates a non-intrusive micro agent or sentinel to monitor for vulnerabilities and provide continuous firmware updates. Cybeats’ micro agent is itself supported by intelligent, cloud-based hybrid computing, which frees up the IoT device from handling the security workload.

“Companies that manufacture, integrate or deploy IoT devices in enterprise, industrial, critical infrastructure or medical environments have good reason to be concerned about device security,” according to Cybeats. “Until now, IoT devices have been easy targets for attackers and are vulnerable to many cyber threats. Cybeats protects IoT devices throughout their lifecycle by taking a unique ‘inside out’ approach to cybersecurity.”

Cybeats was recognized by the IoT Global Awards in 2018 in both the Big Data, Cloud & Analytics and the Securing IoT categories, with the company having raised $3 million in seed funding. Cybeats uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to power its cybersecurity in recognizing threats.

“In cybersecurity, in detecting viruses, it’s all about automation, how you are automating your defence. And that’s where the AI comes in because it actually helps you in reducing the turnaround from detection of the threat and creating the conditions to respond to that threat,” says Cybeats CTO Dmitry Raidman in a 2018 interview with Cantech Letter.

“It’s much better if the device can self-diagnose and figure out if something is wrong,” says Raidman, “and once we apply AI to that, it makes the process that much quicker.”

Relay Medical closed on its acquisition of Cybeats in March for an aggregate purchase price of $7.18 million, $500,000 of which was paid in cash along with about 9.3 million Relay shares at $0.61 per share.

Relay, whose business focuses on developing novel technologies in diagnostics and AI data science, said Cybeats will be indispensable to the company’s goal of providing reliable data-driven technologies including point-of-care medical devices, consumer IoT diagnostic solutions and COVID-19 testing devices.

“Cybersecurity has never been more important for connected devices. We look forward to immediately leveraging Cybeats technology to enhance the value proposition of our portfolio, starting with our Fionet devices. Cybersecurity is paramount to the future of IoT and with Relay’s infrastructure, resources and specialization, we are uniquely positioned to fully realize the potential value of the Cybeats platform across industries,” said Yoav Raiter, CEO, Relay Medical Corp, in a press release.

With a current market cap of about $47 million, Relay saw a huge spike in share price earlier this year, taking the stock from $0.25 in January to $0.80 by early February, but the stock has since lost most of that ground and is currently in the low-$0.30 range.

Relay is launching its JV Fionet Rapid Response Group for on-site COVID testing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, confirming last week the platform and modules have now tested 8,000 people with an average turnaround of 30 minutes. The company says where other testing devices can handle one test per hour, its Fionet Platform processes one test per minute along with providing continuously running proven accuracy checks.

Raidman called the task of securing connected devices an “endless battle” between cybersecurity defenders and attackers, one made only more central by shifts in the use of technology accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The transition to working from home and the dependency on smart and remote functionality required for controlling various systems only worsens the problem. This is the main reason we started Cybeats back in 2016. While we are facing a huge opportunity in a highly expanding market, it is important to make the world safer and more secure for future generations,” said Raidman in a March 18 press release.

Disclosure: Relay Medical is an annual sponsor of Cantech Letter