Societe Generale and Wavestone pick the three winning startups of the “Banking Cybersecurity Innovation Awards”

Winners of the 2017 awards
The jury of the 2017 BCSIA, comprising managing directors and experts from Societe Generale and Wavestone, as well as from ANSSI, Telecom ParisTech and BFM Business, presented the awards on 5 July during Societe Generale TechWeek cybersecurity day to the three winners selected from a shortlist of six startups and 42 applications submitted:

• Alsid in the “Digital Confidence for the Bank" category:
  Built on world class threat intelligence and big data technologies, Alsid’s product is a cloud-based and agentless security solution which constantly monitors billions of AD’s inner parameters, objects, and processes to uncover security gaps, detect ongoing attacks before they succeed, and to provide precise remediation tactics. Alsid’s product is a proactive solution designed to empower its clients on fixing security incidents before an attacker can exploit them.
   

• Skeyecode in the “Digital Confidence for Customers” category:
  By unveiling its innovative two-factor authentication (2FA) software solution that combines high security level of hardware solutions with the frictionless and easy to use of software ones, Skeyecode leverages breakthrough cryptography technology to protect financial services providers and their customers against the escalating threat of cyber-attacks.
   
• Sqreen in the “France Special” category:
  Sqreen is an automated and real-time security solution that protects web applications against attacks. Thanks to instrumentation and self-protection mechanisms, the technology automatically generates protection capsules within the applications to protect them. Sqreen provides engineering and security teams a simple and intuitive platform that helps them fix vulnerabilities instantly.

The winning startups were given the opportunity to test their solutions at Societe Generale, to join Wavestone's startup accelerator programme Shake’Up, and to present their innovations on BFM Business.

Cybersecurity, a key success factor for the bank of tomorrow
With the advent of new technologies and usages, the instantaneous nature of the digital experience and the exponential increase in data production, cybercrime-related threats and incidents are increasing steadily.

Against this backdrop, Societe Generale has made cybersecurity a central focus in order to protect its customers, their data, and its information systems. Christophe Leblanc, Head of Corporate Resources and Innovation for Societe Generale, said “With steady growth in cybercrime, we must be at the cutting edge of innovation in IT security, and this clearly means cooperation and partnerships with startups specialised in this area.”

Wavestone, a leading advisory firm in Europe, applies innovative approaches in helping clients to identify and reduce cyber risks and develop new usages. Pascal Imbert, CEO of Wavestone said, “The bank of tomorrow will need startups to speed up its development and incorporate new ideas. And faced with a constantly evolving threat, it must remain agile and know how to put innovation in cybersecurity to good use.”

The Banking Cybersecurity Innovation Awards crystallise this vision by giving the best startups an opportunity to test their solutions in environments of scale and to obtain development support as part of an open innovation approach.

Robust participation that points to a highly dynamic environment in Europe
More than 40 startups and innovative SMEs from all over Europe participated in the first edition of the Banking CyberSecurity Innovation Awards. For Thierry Olivier, Head of IT Security for Societe Generale Group: “The results and dynamic nature of this award show that Europe and France in particular have a role to play in the innovative ecosystem of cybersecurity”.

The applications submitted all cover current issues in cybersecurity, such as authentication, infrastructure security, the combating of fraud, as well as application security and data protection. Gérôme Billois, a cybersecurity partner at Wavestone, added “We have analysed particularly innovative solutions to secure new usages, particularly for the cloud, this is a key factor in accompanying the development of future information systems”.

A shortlist of six finalist startups was selected during the initial selection process, all of whom presented their projects to a jury selected for its technical and strategic expertise:

• Christophe Leblanc, Societe Generale Group Head of Corporate Resources and Innovation
• Laurent Goutard, Head of Retail Banking, Societe Generale France
• Thierry Olivier, Societe Generale Group Ciso
• Pascal Imbert, Wavestone CEO
• Reza Maghsoudnia, Wavestone Strategic Development Director
• Gérôme Billois, Wavestone Senior Manager Cybersecurity Manager
• Guillaume Poupard, Director general of ANSSI
• Patrick Duvaut, Director of Research at Telecom ParisTech
• Sébastien Couasnon, Journalist and Host of Tech & Co on BFM Business

Press Contact:
Astrid Fould Bacquart - +33 (0)1 56 37 67 95 - Astrid.Fould-Bacquart@socgen.com -   @SG_presse