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

Darktrace recently reached that coveted unicorn status
Poppy Gustafsson: Cyber security isn't just about computers and servers anymore
Amelia Heathman13 August 2018

In the world of artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security start-up Darktrace is one of the most exciting companies in the space.

Launched in Cambridge five years ago by a mixture of mathematicians, former intelligence agents, and specialists from the tech industry, it has quickly risen to the top of the UK tech scene, gaining a coveted unicorn valuation of $1.25 billion along the way.

As well as the exciting AI technology that is transforming cyber security, the company is also unique in that it has two female CEOs, Poppy Gustafsson and Nicole Eagan.

When some tech companies can barely fit one woman on their board, it’s great to see Darktrace championing women in technology in this way.

“It’s only something I’m aware of when I’m doing interviews or when I’m at an industry event and suddenly you see a sea of men staring back at you,” CEO Gustafsson tells the Standard.

“It’s 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 tech industry’s ones to watch. Here’s what you need to know about Gustafsson.

The changing battlegrounds

Gustafsson has been the minority gender for most of her life, starting with her maths degree at the University of Sheffield. She studied an accountancy qualification at Deloitte, before working for a venture capital firm and a few tech companies until the opportunity to join Darktrace’s founding team came along.

She says the ambitions for the company were what attracted her. “We knew we had a phenomenal product and we wanted to have a global reach very quickly.”

Darktrace's CEO Poppy Gustafsson
Darktrace

It’s interesting discussing Darktrace’s beginnings with Gustafsson because you have to cast your mind back to five years ago when cyber security wasn’t considered as interesting or integral to businesses as it is now.

In 2016 there was the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee, for which 13 people have just been indicted. Then last year, we had the global malware attacks of WannaCry and NotPetya.

Now, every week there appears to be another company announcing a data breach; most recently Timehop. Darktrace has flourished with this backdrop, growing from its original space in Cambridge to 33 offices around the globe.

What’s been going on?

“Beforehand, security was about keeping the bad guys off your network by having a big strong wall,” says Gustafsson. “[But] our founders believed that at some point the cyber breach was inevitable so we need to think about identifying the attack in the early stages and stopping it.”

Darktrace’s USP is its Enterprise Immune System product that likens networks to the human body’s immune system. “What the immune system does is it has an innate sense of self – it knows who you are and can identify bacteria or a virus that comes into the body by virtue of the fact it is not you,” she says.

Through this, the tech can identify an attack and target the response by slowing it down and stopping it so breaches don’t escalate and become a problem. This is all done using power of AI.

Preparing for the next big cyber threat

Living in an increasingly connected world has major implications for how cyber security functions in our businesses and at home, thanks to our changing relationships with technology.

“Cyber security isn’t just laptops and servers anymore,” explains Gustafsson. “Right now I can see a smart TV and a smart fish tank that is internet connected to regulate the temperature of the water, and it’s all these non-traditional internet-connected devices that are expanding the threat surface that attackers can use and exploit.”

Darktrace has to be constantly innovating to keep up with these challenges in order to be able to face off the bad guys, something Gustafsson describes as a technological arms race.

“We’re an organisation that has technology and innovation at its core and we’ve made huge leaps and bounds but it’s only a matter of time before the hackers of the world are leveraging those tech advances with regards to their own approach.”

Internet of Things devices, like the Amazon Echo, are opening up more security pain points in our homes

But, security isn’t just about attacks from nation states and global hacking groups. Gustafsson says that one of the biggest issues in cyber security is simply human error. “99 per cent of the time we are showing companies [issues] during pitches that they were unaware of.”

There was the time when Darktrace was pitching to a law firm with an employee swipe card system. A good idea but it turned out: “Every time someone swiped the drinks machine, all the personal details from the swipe card were going to the drinks vendor.”

Darktrace was able to contact the vendor and get it sorted straight away, but this is an example of an unintentional attack. It demonstrates that the biggest threats from your company can come from within. “That was a consequence of the network not being set up in a way they thought it had been. They weren’t even aware of it,” she adds.

Life on top

Gustafsson puts Darktrace’s success down to its ability to challenge the status quo. “From the start we challenged the idea that cyber security was about keeping the bad guys out, right through to the fact that we’re talked about as an organisation that is led by two women. In our minds, there’s no reason it wouldn’t be.”

This top-down decision does make it an anomaly amongst tech companies and it impacts the company culture.

“As soon as you create a tech organisation that is gender agnostic, people flourish respective whether they’re male or female,” she says.

Yet, it’s not easy leading a company that is so spread out across the world and maintaining that company culture in 33 offices. Gustafsson admits she no longer knows the names and faces of all Darktrace’s employees, over 700 to be exact, due to its fast growth.

“But I want to make sure they continue to feel a part of this brilliant organisation. It’s making sure that the culture is the same whether you’re working in Cambridge or Brazil. So that is a lot of work,” she says.

And, she hopes that more people will be encouraged to enter the field. For anyone looking to get into tech or security specifically, her advice is to study maths or computer science.

“I would strongly encourage anyone who wanted to explore that to do it and don’t ever accept someone saying they can’t,” she adds.

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