Javelin Networks

Javelin Networks, established in 2014, carved a specific niche in the cybersecurity landscape by focusing on the protection of Microsoft's Active Directory (AD). The company was founded in Israel by a team of cybersecurity experts: Roi Abutbul (CEO), Guy Franco, and Almog Ohayon. Their collective experience as Red Team post-exploitation specialists informed the company's mission to prevent attackers from compromising corporate domains, a common and critical vulnerability. Roi Abutbul, for instance, is a serial cybersecurity entrepreneur who served for eight years in an advanced cybersecurity unit of the Israeli Defense Force before co-founding Javelin.

The firm's core business centered on securing Active Directory, a directory service used by the vast majority of enterprises worldwide to manage network resources. Javelin identified that AD, being exposed by design to facilitate network management, was a prime target for attackers. Once inside a network, malicious actors could query AD to map the entire corporate structure, identify users and servers, and move laterally to escalate their attack. Javelin's business model involved providing its specialized security software to enterprises, addressing a gap left by traditional endpoint security solutions that often failed to prevent AD-based attacks.

Javelin's flagship product was AD|Protect, an AI-driven platform designed to function as an intrusion detection and containment system specifically for Active Directory. Rather than altering the AD infrastructure itself, AD|Protect worked at the endpoint. It employed a combination of AI, obfuscation, and forensic methodologies to control an attacker's perception of the network. Using Natural Language Processing, the platform learned the real network topology and then presented a deceptive, obfuscated version to any unauthorized queries, effectively camouflaging the actual network and its resources. This approach aimed to detect and contain breaches at the initial point of compromise, preventing credential misuse and lateral movement without impacting legitimate users or operations. A significant milestone for the company occurred in November 2018, when it was acquired by Symantec for an estimated $20-30 million and integrated into Symantec's endpoint security business.

Keywords: Active Directory security, endpoint detection, breach containment, cybersecurity, threat hunting, intrusion detection, lateral movement prevention, credential protection, deception technology, post-exploitation, network obfuscation, domain compromise, Symantec acquisition, Roi Abutbul, Guy Franco, Almog Ohayon, AD|Protect, enterprise security, network forensics, identity management security