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New AI tech company to tackle impersonation phone scams
A team of Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) cybersecurity experts have set up their own company, to tackle impersonation scams.
Their project, LastingAsset, has become the latest to spin out from the university, joining a list of cyber firms that began life at the School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment.
LastingAsset started out as a cybersecurity project to protect digital assets, before the founding team adapted the technology to tackle imposter calls.
The service uses cryptographic encryption and artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent fraud perpetuated by rogue actors who impersonate an organisation or individual.
The cryptography-based verification process developed by LastingAsset can assure client firms and their customers that they are speaking to a legitimate caller.
The project was initially developed by ENU academics Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh and Professor Bill Buchanan. The team includes co-founder and chief executive, Nanik Ramchandani, newly appointed chief operating officer, Ciara Mitchell and senior software engineer, Dmitri Timoshenko.
Since establishing the project more than two years ago, they have been backed by funding from Scottish Enterprise, Innovate UK, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Data Lab. Their work also won the Cisco Future Tech Award in 2023.
Having developed the technology, the LastingAsset team has begun exploring pilot projects with early-adopter customers – and recently participated in a Scottish Enterprise programme, to test the American market.
Zakwan said: “Impersonation scams cause untold misery for people all around the world, and this is a big moment in our effort to fight against them.
“ENU has a strong track record of supporting projects like ours to become major international companies, and we would like to thank colleagues for their help to get us to this point.”
Bill commented: “In an era of AI, there are so many opportunities to integrate privacy and digital trust into our online world.
“Our vision is to create systems which respect the rights of privacy of citizens, but where we can still address challenges around financial fraud and identity theft.
“We are aiming to build automated systems which can be trusted from a human and a technical level."
Nanik added: “With the rapid development of AI and deepfake technology, it is more important than ever to stay one step ahead of fraudsters
“We are determined to provide individuals with the peace of mind to confidently continue to communicate with each other knowing that they are secure and not being scammed.”
Fiona Mason, head of business engagement and IP commercialisation at the university said: Edinburgh Napier University, said: “We are delighted with the launch of LastingAsset, the fifth spin-out from the cybersecurity group within the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment.
“Lasting Asset's fraud detection is set to deliver significant benefits to people's lives, by making everyday phone communications more trustworthy for everyone.
“We can't do this alone – we are incredibly grateful for the support of our vibrant ecosystem which has been instrumental in supporting this project. I’d also like to offer thanks and congratulations to the founding team whose dedication and commitment have brought this vision to life.
“We are so proud of LastingAsset, which exemplifies our ambition to foster innovation, translate our research into real-world impact and drive economic growth through groundbreaking technology.”
Some other companies that began life as projects at ENU include Cyacomb, MemCrypt, Symphonic Software, ZoneFox, Mercel and Celtic Renewables.
In 2023 ENU was named one of the UK’s top-10 universities, for generating spin-out firms, in a report by Octopus Ventures. The list also included the universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the top 10.
Image: Edinburgh Napier University, of left-right, Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh, Nanik Ramchandani, Professor Bill Buchanan, Dmitri Timoshenko and Ciara Mitchell.
