Strategic VC investment adds deepfake detection
to responsible, secure tech stack
Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) today announced that its
corporate venture capital arm, Booz Allen Ventures, LLC, has made a
strategic investment in Reality Defender, a cybersecurity company
specializing in deepfake and synthetic media detection that
leverages advanced AI to identify and combat AI-generated threats
ensuring the integrity of digital content in today’s
software-defined world.
This investment enhances critical AI and cyber efforts at Booz
Allen, recently recognized by GovWin from Deltek as the leading
provider of both AI and cybersecurity for the U.S. federal
government, and reflects the firm’s commitment to fostering
responsible, secure, and trustworthy AI solutions that protect
citizens, government, and commercial clients from evolving digital
threats, misinformation, and deepfakes in real time.
"Sophisticated AI models are increasingly being used to
manipulate and deceive, posing a real risk ranging from the
battlefield and research labs to financial systems and communities
nationwide,” said Matt Keating, head of AI security at Booz Allen.
"To combat these threats, we need tools to validate and secure
multimodal content, such as videos, images, audio recordings, and
phone calls. Reality Defender meets this need, offering a proven
solution for verifying data integrity and using AI to actively
counter disinformation, ensuring AI systems remain responsible,
secure, and trustworthy."
Reality Defender, named “Most Innovative Startup” at the 2024
RSA Conference, offers a purpose-built detection platform
delivering real-time protection against synthetic media threats and
impersonations, offering scalable and customizable solutions for
government, enterprise, and institutional clients. Using advanced
AI tools, the platform effectively combats identity-based fraud and
ensures media authenticity across multiple modalities. Designed to
meet the rigorous demands of mission-critical applications, Reality
Defender helps safeguard against evolving risks posed by
AI-generated content.
“Booz Allen’s leadership in AI security and deep expertise in
supporting critical missions will enable Reality Defender to expand
our impact at a time when securing communications against deepfakes
is paramount,” said Ben Colman, co-founder and CEO of Reality
Defender. “Together, we are positioned to counter emerging
AI-driven threats and secure communications from the growing risks
of synthetic media.”
Since launching in 2022, Booz Allen’s $100 million corporate
venture capital arm has made strategic investments in early-stage
companies developing dual-use commercial technologies and Reality
Defender joins a strong stable of past AI-related investments:
Credo AI, (responsible AI); HiddenLayer (secure AI); LatentAI (AI
data compression); Reveal Technologies (real-time route
planning/mapping); RAIC Labs (previously Synthetaic, synthetic data
generation and testing) and more, resulting a comprehensive suite
aimed at fostering ethical AI adoption across sectors in support of
our clients’ mission of national importance. Additional Ventures
investments include Hidden Level, Shift5, Hidden Layer, Second
Front (2F), Albedo, Quindar and Starfish.
“This investment reinforces our mission to identify, field, and
deploy dual-use technologies for good, leading to technological
advantage for the U.S. and our partners. There is so much promise
in AI, but we need to ensure it’s deployed responsibly and
securely, and that it’s trustworthy—it can’t be tech for tech’s
sake, but rather tech to enhance citizens’ everyday lives—not put
them at jeopardy,” said Wes Blackwell, managing director of Booz
Allen Ventures. “With Reality Defender’s industry-leading deepfake
detection capabilities, we are further enhancing our AI and cyber
portfolios, and are able to provide our clients the assurance that
digital interactions remain trustworthy and secure, safeguarding
public and commercial interests against misinformation and
fraud.”
Read more about Booz Allen Ventures, the firm’s AI capabilities
and leading cyber business.
About Booz Allen Hamilton
Trusted to transform missions with the power of tomorrow’s
technologies, Booz Allen Hamilton advances the nation’s most
critical civil, defense, and national security priorities. We lead,
invest, and invent where it’s needed most—at the forefront of
complex missions, using innovation to define the future. We combine
our in-depth expertise in AI and cybersecurity with leading-edge
technology and engineering practices to deliver impactful
solutions. Combining 110 years of strategic consulting expertise
with the perspectives of diverse talent, we ensure results by
integrating technology with an enduring focus on our clients. We’re
first to the future—moving missions forward to realize our purpose:
Empower People to Change the World®.
With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs
approximately 35,800 people globally as of September 30, 2024, and
had revenue of $10.7 billion for the 12 months ended March 31,
2024. To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH)
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this release include
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Examples of
forward-looking statements include statements that do not directly
relate to any historical or current fact. In some cases, you can
identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,”
“will,” “could,” “should,” “forecasts,” “expects,” “intends,”
“plans,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “outlook,” “believes,”
“estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “preliminary,” or
the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the
forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give you no
assurance these expectations will prove to have been correct.
These forward-looking statements relate to future events or our
future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ
materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance
or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. A number of important factors could cause actual
results to differ materially from those contained in or implied by
these forward-looking statements, including those factors discussed
in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2024, which can be found at the SEC’s website at
www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or
persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their
entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. All such
statements speak only as of the date made and, except as required
by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
BAHPR-CO
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241120292062/en/
Media Relations: Amanda Allison-Martini, Allison_Amanda@bah.com
Investor Relations: Investor_Relations@bah.com
Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024
Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2023 to Dec 2024
