Hackers represent a significant threat to contemporary society.
While companies may incur substantial costs on cybersecurity personnel to avoid hacks and cybercrime, the financial implications of a serious data breach can be far more severe. Cybersecurity professional Jeevan Jutla has been engaged in the fight against advanced cyber threats since his teenage years by adopting a hacker’s mindset, preemptively identifying vulnerabilities, and utilizing artificial intelligence.
Jutla’s journey into cybersecurity began in a unique manner; he joined the UK Intelligence Service as a teenager. He later co-founded Gecko Security, an AI-driven cybersecurity solution aimed at enhancing software security while enabling in-house security teams to remain efficient. Gecko employs AI automation for intricate security testing, rapidly identifying vulnerabilities that cybercriminals might exploit.
Jeevan Jutla’s pioneering contributions to AI-based cybersecurity, alongside his vision for accelerating and scaling vulnerability research, highlight his dedication and innate talent.
Jutla’s Early Experience in the Intelligence Service
In 2020, a young Jutla achieved a high score on a competitive aptitude test, landing a position researching cybersecurity vulnerabilities for a government agency.
His responsibilities included utilizing AI to secure software by identifying and closing security loopholes. He utilized techniques like fuzzing, which involves inputting unconventional data into software programs to reveal unexpected behaviors. By rigorously testing software, the resultant errors allow cybersecurity experts to outpace hackers.
The software he assessed was vital for securing government infrastructure, such as power grids, where a breach could lead to substantial consequences. While studying for his engineering degree at King’s College London, Jutla worked for Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, as a security engineer on their Red Team, focused on preventing cybersecurity breaches before data is compromised.
Jutla’s Accomplishments in Hackathons and AI Research
Innovative coding ideas often emerge from hackathons, competitions that highlight an engineer’s capacity to identify and resolve coding vulnerabilities.
Jutla’s career has been characterized by pushing boundaries, having won over 15 esteemed hackathons since 2022, securing more than $100,000 in prizes and achieving a top 500 global ranking in competitive hacking. He enjoys designing challenges for future hackathons and judging the results to support emerging talent in cybersecurity and software engineering.
During his studies in London, Jutla connected with his future co-founder Artemiy Malyshau, and together they began participating in hackathons. These high-stakes events allowed them to refine their shared vision that AI automation could significantly enhance cybersecurity teams. Recognizing that while software existed to detect basic bugs, AI’s ability to uncover deeper vulnerabilities presented an exciting opportunity they were eager to explore.
Launching Gecko Security: Redefining Cybersecurity
Gecko Security stands as more than just another security tool; it signifies a transformative evolution in cybersecurity by expediting vulnerability research and improving scalability by detecting flaws that conventional security testing would overlook.
Although it analyzes data for logical errors and intricate vulnerabilities, it avoids returning lengthy lists of trivial issues; Jutla and Malyshau take pride in Gecko’s low false positive rate and effective threat prioritization system, which optimizes time management for security teams. This allows smaller IT and cybersecurity teams to achieve robust security solutions. Just months after launch, Gecko has already demonstrated its effectiveness in securing software, marking it as a potential game-changer for security operations.
Harnessing AI for a Safer Future
The cybersecurity landscape faces a significant challenge: an ever-increasing number of vulnerable software deployments alongside a growing workforce of cybersecurity professionals. Jeevan Jutla asserts that bridging this gap requires a shift from partial automation of security testing to complete automation of the entire process.
This vision drives Gecko Security’s mission. Jutla envisions a future where AI can autonomously identify and rectify vulnerabilities, vastly improving security and allowing human researchers to concentrate on more complex challenges. He believes that automating only portions of security testing is merely the start, and he is presently developing the next features for Gecko Security to realize this ambitious vision.
