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An Israeli security bigwig built Windows like 'Microsoft should be doing'


satya nadella microsoft CEO
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Dudu Mimran is the co-founder of an Israeli security startup called Morphisec that is creating a super-secure version of Microsoft Windows like "Microsoft should be doing" he tells Business Insider.

There's reason to believe him. In addition to his startup, he's also the CTO of Deutsche Telekom Innovation Laboratories in Israel. And he's the chief security officer of Cyber Security Research Center at Ben-Gurion University.

MorphiSec Dudu Mimran
MorphiSec co-founder CTO Dudu Mimran
Dudu Mimran
The Windows OS project was born inside the BGU research center as a way to create a 100% unhackable operating system for military applications like missiles and airlines.

The founders then realized it had commercial applications in preventing what's known as "zero-day" attacks, when hackers use holes found in an operating system for which there is no patch. Zero-day attacks are an enterprise nightmare.

In techno-speak, Morphisec has created a version of Windows that "randomizes all the memory" for specific Windows applications, Mimran describes.

By making computer memory a moving target, a hacker can't mess with it, and therefore can't cause damage to the rest of the computer or the data.

Among beta users so far, Morphisec says it has a promising 100% success rate in stopping hackers without crying wolf with a bunch of "false positives." False positives are incidents incorrectly labeled as hack attacks.

The company has raised a $1.5 million in seed funding from a major Israeli VC, JVC Partners. That's no guarantee that that enterprises will buy this new secure version of Windows. But it's interesting that Mimran and gang are working on it. And Microsoft, who has a big presence in Israel, is no doubt watching.

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