Darktrace, the world’s leading AI company for cyber defense, has today announced that the Institute of Molecular Oncology (IFOM), a leading biomedical research center in Italy, is using cyber AI to defend cancer research from cyber-attacks.

Based in Milan and funded by the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research, IFOM is focused on the study of cancer development at a molecular level. Its multidisciplinary research is helping accelerate knowledge of cancer and its cure, yet the pain-staking work of its 600 scientists is increasingly at risk in a world where data can be more easily compromised than ever.

“For us, a cyber-attack could result in our life-saving research falling into the hands of those with malicious intentions or, worse, a ransomware attack could see us permanently losing access to it all together,” commented Igal Janni, Chief Information Officer at IFOM.

In response to heightened cyber risk, IFOM has deployed Darktrace’s cyber AI to protect its research and other confidential data at its Milan research center. The artificial intelligence observes activity on IFOM’s digital network and autonomously detects subtly anomalous events. A potential cyber-attack is now flagged in seconds, rather than in days.

Janni continues, “cyber security is absolutely fundamental to what we do. With Darktrace’s AI at the helm, our scientists can continue to make life-changing discoveries knowing that their work is safeguarded by a digital immune system.”

About Darktrace

Darktrace is the world’s leading cyber AI company and the creator of Autonomous Response technology.

Its self-learning AI is modelled on the human immune system and used by over 3,000 organizations to protect against threats to the cloud, email, IoT, networks and industrial systems. This includes insider threat, industrial espionage, IoT compromises, zero-day malware, data loss, supply chain risk and long-term infrastructure vulnerabilities.

The company has over 900 employees, 40 offices and headquarters in San Francisco and Cambridge, UK. Every 3 seconds, Darktrace AI fights back against a cyber-threat, preventing it from causing damage.