AI is giving cybercrime a makeover, and this startup just raised $15 million to fight back
Overwatch’s CEO says AI is merging fraud, hacking and money laundering into one threat.
AI is fundamentally transforming cybercrime, according to Arjun Bisen, co-founder and CEO of digital threat detection startup Overwatch. Bisen, a former Australian diplomat, says that the cybercrime landscape is now so effective that it has become one of the top three economies globally, rivaling China and the United States. This transformation has made cybercrime faster, cheaper, and more interconnected, as AI enables digital threats such as cyberattacks, fraud, and financial crime to blend seamlessly into a single threat.
Overwatch, founded by Bisen and Zara Perumal in 2022, now boasts a $15 million Series A funding round led by Mouro Capital and with participation from Visa Ventures, Capital One Ventures, PruVen Capital, New Era Capital Partners, and Y Combinator. The company's customers include Visa, Capital One, Cash App, SoFi, Stripe, and DoorDash.
The rapid proliferation of AI-driven cybercrime is evident in the ease with which threat actors can launch campaigns and compromise payment sites. For instance, one threat actor managed to launch over 100 attack campaigns in just five days and compromise 27 payment sites, harvesting contact details for over 600,000 cards.
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