UK scales up production of AI kill switch
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A UK startup is scaling up production of its cybersecurity hardware that acts as an AI kill switch.
Goldilock is moving from R&D to large scale manufacturing and test at its West Midlands headquarters for production of its network isolation tool, FireBreak. This can be used to isolate parts of a network in the event of a cybersecurity attack, for example isolating storage in the event of a ransomware attack or to contain an AI system with an air-gapped kill switch.
Over the past year, FireBreak has won Goldilock a place on multiple accelerators including the NATO DIANA programme and the MoD’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), which included evaluation by both NATO and UK security regulators. This included assessment of the security of the site at the University of Wolverhampton Science Park and the manufacturing process for the equipment.
FireBreak uses a reed relay to isolate a device from the internet in the event of an intrusion or ransomware attack. The relays sit in the media port of the physical network, whether fibre or copper, and can be triggered in a number of ways to provide the airgap isolation.
“It’s important to note we do not inspect the traffic or manipulate it, this meaning total data privacy and control. To reiterate, there is a complete separation of the Control and Data layers internally, therefore it is not possible for data to traverse the layers,” said the company.
The control level is Goldilock’s software which is based on a set of rules that allows the media type connection to allow traffic or not and act as a kill switch for AI systems. The interface between the software control and the switches does not allow a data path from control plane and the data plane to be mixed so there is no chance of contamination or data snooping or stealing.
The highest level is then the trigger types to activate the software as a kill switch, and the modular architecture allows for several different approaches.
A timed scheduler can remove connections at a scheduled time either as a one off event or a reoccurring event, or via an SMS signal from an internal modem. This allows a registered user and device to make connectivity changes separate from the data network.
A secure webpage accessed via an admin port rather than the data network can also be used, or the admin can be accessed via a secure restful API commands to control the connectivity changes.
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Goldilock expects to increase the team to 32 employees by the end of 2025 for production of the hardware and forecasts that it will be able to create 44 new jobs in the area between now and the end of 2027, the majority of which will be engineers to help service customer orders for FireBreak.
“With sophisticated ransomware and AI-powered attacks on a continuous rise, paired with the increasing interconnectedness of systems, Goldilock’s technology provides a critical, foundational layer of defence,” said Stephen Kines, co-founder and Chief operating officer at Goldilock.
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