Tag: LastingAsset

New AI tech company to tackle impersonation scams

Cyber project LastingAsset has become the latest firm to spin out from Edinburgh Napier University

A team of Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) cybersecurity experts have taken their fight against impersonation scams to the next level – after setting up their own company.

Their project, LastingAsset, has become the latest to spin out from the University, joining an illustrious list of cyber firms that began life at the School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment.

LastingAsset started out as a cybersecurity project to protect digital assets, before the founding team adapted the technology to tackle imposter calls.

Their service uses cryptographic encryption and artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent fraud perpetuated by rogue actors who impersonate an organisation or individual. 

Almost half of all fraud has an impersonation aspect and criminals are increasingly duping victims by using AI to socially engineer, voice clone and deep fake individuals. These crimes cost organisations across the UK billions of pounds every year.

The cryptography-based verification process developed by LastingAsset can assure client firms and their customers that they are speaking to a legitimate caller.

Having spent recent months developing their product, LastingAsset will now become the latest ENU spin-out company – the term used for new businesses which began life as an academic project.

The project was initially developed by ENU academics Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh and Professor Bill Buchanan. Their team includes co-founder and CEO Nanik Ramchandani, newly appointed Chief Operating Officer Ciara Mitchell and Senior Software Engineer Dmitri Timoshenko.

Since establishing the project more than two years ago, they have been backed by significant funding from Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Spinout Programme, Innovate UK, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Data Lab. Their work has also drawn award recognition from the likes of Converge – claiming its Cisco Future Tech Award in 2023.

Having developed the technology, the LastingAsset team have begun exploring pilots with early adopter customers – and recently participated in a Scottish Enterprise programme to test the American market.

Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh, LastingAsset Co-founder & Chief Technical Officer, said: “Impersonation scams cause untold misery for people all around the world, and this is a big moment in our effort to fight against them.

“Edinburgh Napier University has a strong track record of supporting projects like ours to become major international companies, and we would like to thank colleagues for their help to get us to this point.”

Prof Bill Buchanan, LastingAsset Co-founder & Chief Innovator, said: “In an era of AI, there are so many opportunities to integrate privacy and digital trust into our online world.

“Our vision is to create systems which respect the rights of privacy of citizens, but where we can still address challenges around financial fraud and identity theft.

“We are aiming to build automated systems which can be trusted from a human and a technical level.”

Nanik Ramchandani, LastingAsset Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, said: “With the rapid development of AI and deepfake technology, it is more important than ever to stay one step ahead of fraudsters.

“We are determined to provide individuals with the peace of mind to confidently continue to communicate with each other knowing that they are secure and not being scammed.”

Fiona Mason, Head of Business Engagement and IP Commercialisation at Edinburgh Napier University, said: “We are delighted with the launch of LastingAsset, the fifth spin-out from the Cybersecurity group within the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment.

“Lasting Asset’s fraud detection is set to deliver significant benefits to people’s lives, by making everyday phone communications more trustworthy for everyone.

“We can’t do this alone – we are incredibly grateful for the support of our vibrant ecosystem which has been instrumental in supporting this project. I’d also like to offer thanks and congratulations to the founding team whose dedication and commitment have brought this vision to life.

“We are so proud of LastingAsset, which exemplifies our ambition to foster innovation, translate our research into real-world impact, and drive economic growth through groundbreaking technology.”

By spinning out, LastingAsset joins an impressive list of companies that began life as projects at the University, including the likes of Cyacomb, MemCrypt, Symphonic Software, ZoneFox, Mercel and Celtic Renewables.

In 2023 ENU was named among the UK’s top ten universities for generating spin-out firms.

Tech solution to tackle impersonation phone scams lands new funding 

Edinburgh Napier project LastingAsset has been awarded £220k

An Edinburgh Napier University cyber project has been backed by new funding to explore ways of combatting phone-based impersonation and imposter scams – which cause substantial financial losses, privacy breaches and distress to people around the world.

LastingAsset, which began as a crypto asset security concept, has secured £200,000 in funding from Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Spinout Programme and £20,000 from The Data Lab.

The LastingAsset team at ENU’s School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment (SCEBE) will now use the technology behind that original idea and spend the next year working with pilot customers to refine their anti-fraud product, before taking it to market.

Among other privacy features, it uses encryption technology to prevent rogue actors from impersonating an organisation’s phone number to dupe victims.

According to the UK Government’s latest fraud strategy, unsuspecting individuals and organisations lost £2.35bn through fraud in 2021, with the banking and finance industry losing £1.3bn. 

Project leader Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh said: “Our research team were initially working on a custodial solution for crypto assets. While this remains a problem that needs addressing, we wanted to provide a solution to a more pressing societal challenge. This is when we pivoted to using the same underlying technologies to address the problem of impersonation phone call scams. 

“In today’s modern digital world, businesses often find themselves unable to effectively protect their customers from cyber fraud, which tarnishes their reputation and their ability to use the voice calls effectively.

“The LastingAsset solution uses blockchain and homomorphic encryption technologies to effectively combat phone number spoofing, voice-based impersonation and cloning scams, without requiring the organisation to build a new security infrastructure. 

“With this, any organisation that communicates with their customers by voice can assure customers that they are speaking with a genuine representative and not a scammer.”

Nanik Ramchandani of Imagine Ventures, who leads the project’s commercial team, said: “We are beginning trials with two pilot customers and opening our waiting list for additional pilots.

“It is going to be an incredibly exciting and rewarding journey over the coming months, as we translate our proof of concept and vision into a valuable offering to clients and stop scammers from defrauding fellow citizens.”

Recently named one of the top 10 universities in the UK for spin-out activity, ENU has supported the creation of many cyber spin-out businesses over the last 10 years, including Cyacomb, MemCrypt, Symphonic Software and ZoneFox. Four years ago, the university created the first identity lab in the world, the Blockpass ID Lab, which has focused on creating more trustworthy systems.

Supporting LastingAsset’s progression from research project to a spin-out business is ENU’s Professor Bill Buchanan, alongside Dr Cathy Higginson, Business Development and Relationship Manager at the University’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise department.

This latest funding received from Scottish Enterprise and The Data Lab will help the LastingAsset project team to integrate their solution with multiple early pilot customers.

Over the next eight to 12 months, they expect to work with more than 30 initial pilot customers in securing their voice communication. This process will allow the team to refine the architecture of their product; test their solution and increase its credibility. At the end of this period, they anticipate product-market fit and the ability to rapidly scale their offering.

Through Scottish Enterprise’s High-Growth Spinout Programme, LastingAsset is receiving £200,000 in funding, building upon £74,948 which was awarded in 2022.

Leah Pape, Head of High Growth Services at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Edinburgh Napier University has an enviable track record of producing companies whose products and platforms direct cutting-edge technological advancements into efforts to combat increasingly sophisticated fraudsters.

“Our grant builds on the funding and advice provided previously to LastingAsset at its earliest stages and underlines Scottish Enterprise’s commitment to supporting the development of the high-growth industries of the future.”

The Data Lab, Scotland’s innovation centre for data and AI, also recently funded £20k to help LastingAsset develop their proof of concept.

Brian Hills, CEO of The Data Lab, said: “Online scamming can have devastating impacts on unsuspecting victims’ finances and mental wellbeing, with recent advances in AI exacerbating the problem.

“Preventing people from falling victim to these crimes in the first place is key. The Data Lab were delighted to support the LastingAsset team at Edinburgh Napier University to develop their groundbreaking technology further to tackle online scamming and reduce the number of victims and financial losses.”