We caught up with Rohan Sood of Scantist, a member of ICE71 Accelerate’s fourth cohort.

Q: Tell us more about yourself.
I’m Rohan Sood, Head of Operations at Scantist. We’re an NTU spin-off based in Singapore.

Q: What inspired you to start your startup? What is your goal or dream for your startup?

The cyber-security lab (CSL) at NTU found multiple vulnerabilities in popular commercial software from Adobe, Apple and the likes as a part of it’s binary-level security analysis. These vulnerabilities were recognized by the vendor companies – leading to significant bug-bounty awards to the research team.

The ability to find commercially relevant vulnerabilities in some of the most sophisticated software platforms and products led us to believe that we had a unique value proposition to share with the world. We started Scantist with an objective to translate our research activities into a viable product that could be used to identify such vulnerabilities before the software is released.

Our vision is a world where applications function flawlessly – the way they were intended, without concerns for security. We aspire to be the one-stop shop for application security.

Q: What is the problem you want to solve with your product/ solution? Tell us more about your solution and who might find use for it.

While cybersecurity has traditionally focussed on network and infrastructure layers, the application layer is emerging to be the preferred battleground for hackers and adversaries worldwide. Breaches like Equifax, Panama Papers and a host of Heartbleed-related attacks were all made possible owing to vulnerabilities in business-critical applications.

Scantist Software Composition Analysis (SCA) provides a developer-centric solution that integrates with existing workflows to proactively manage known vulnerabilities in software applications. Scantist SCA is the only tool that effortlessly scans all binary and open source code in a single integrated platform to provide targeted remediation advice with an extremely high-degree of accuracy.

Any organization – small or large – which develops or maintains software applications as a part of its core business operations is a potential customer for Scantist.

We are currently focussed on markets in Singapore, ASEAN and China.

Q: What have you enjoyed the most being a part of the ICE71 Accelerate programme?

With cohort members as well as mentors from across the globe, we have really enjoyed looking at cybersecurity from a much-broader perspective than we previously had owing to our existing engagements being limited to the Singapore/ASEAN region. It has allowed Scantist to evolve and broaden its horizons by working towards being a global brand.

Watch Scantist pitch at ICE71 Accelerate 4 Virtual Demo Day on 25th June! 

Learn more about Scantist at scantist.com