HYPR raises $30 million to combat threats posed by generative AI

HYPR secures $30 million in funding from Silver Lake Waterman to drive accelerated advancements in technologies to combat the rising threat of generative AI-driven credential-based attacks.

This investment validates the expanded adoption of HYPR’s passwordless authentication solutions and support for its policy risk and identity verification products – evidenced with recent large-scale deployments by leading enterprises and strategic partnerships between HYPR and key technology leaders.

Recent research findings from HYPR reveal that 60% of organizations name generative AI as the biggest identity security concern. It comes as no surprise given the potential for misuse and increasing sophistication of AI-powered attacks over the last 12 months, alone.

Yet, many organizations continue to use probabilistic approaches to security that can be exploited, including “phishable” authentication methods such as passwords or knowledge-based identity verification.

Even though 89% of organizations believe that passwordless authentication provides the highest level of security, over half (53%) still cling to vulnerable username/ password methods.

“HYPR’s innovative approach to identity assurance and proactive stance against the growing threats posed by generative AI is a testament to their leadership in this critical field,” said Shawn O’Neill, Managing Director at Silver Lake Waterman. “We are excited to partner with HYPR on this journey, with a focus on accelerating the development and deployment of technologies that will protect organizations and individuals in an increasingly complex digital landscape.”

Secure, frictionless authentication for millions

Last year alone, HYPR increased passkey usage among the workforces of its customers by 77% from the previous year. Leading the charge, one of the four largest U.S. banks has become the world’s largest enterprise adopter of FIDO passkeys by working with HYPR.

Gains were exponential on the consumer side, with 367% year-over-year growth in consumer passkey deployments among HYPR customers, including a long-standing healthcare customer that simplified its customers’ experience by successfully rolling out one million passkeys with HYPR in just ten weeks.

HYPR continues to rapidly gain momentum in key vertical markets, solidifying its position as a trusted provider of identity solutions in energy, automotive, healthcare, education, government and financial services.

“In an era of escalating threats, particularly those powered by generative AI, prioritizing the security of our customers’ information is paramount,” said Bashar Abouseido, CISO at Charles Schwab. “HYPR is at the forefront of this battle and we’re confident that our partnership will continue to deliver a secure and frictionless authentication experience.”

New strategic integrations

HYPR recently announced new integration capabilities with CrowdStrike, Yubico, and Microsoft – all of which will provide joint customers with the benefits of FIDO certified multi-factor authentication and a frictionless and secure identity experience.

The companies join HYPR’s list of strategic technical alliances, including integrations with Okta, Ping Identity, and Idemia, amongst others.

Through these collaborations, HYPR is forging the path towards eliminating passwords and shared secrets across the enterprise and securing the identity lifecycle end-to-end.

• CrowdStrike and HYPR announced a new integration that combines data from HYPR Adapt with security telemetry from the industry-leading CrowdStrike Falcon® cybersecurity platform, empowering organizations to make contextual access decisions and mitigate the risk of unauthorized access and insider threats.
• Microsoft, a longstanding partner, has added HYPR as one of its first external authentication method integrations, allowing organizations to choose HYPR phishing-resistant authentication for their Entra ID MFA method.
• HYPR is the first featured partner of the YubiKey Bio Series – Multi-protocol Edition keys, providing enterprises with versatile secure, hardware-based passwordless biometric authentication.

Identity-first security

According to Gartner “By 2026, attacks using AI-generated deepfakes on face biometrics will mean that 30% of enterprises will no longer consider such identity verification and authentication solutions to be reliable in isolation.”

Unsurprisingly, the FTC reported approximately 105,000 business and job opportunity scams in 2023, alone. To combat this five-fold increase, HYPR recently announced HYPR Affirm, the industry’s first unified identity verification solution.

Affirm leverages AI-powered chat, video, and face recognition, to seamlessly and securely confirm employee identities – without the use of a password. With continual verification, Affirm prevents identity fraud throughout the entire employee lifecycle.