Every year since 2020, Wavestone has identified Swiss cybersecurity startups in its eponymous radar. While AI has established itself as a cross-disciplinary subject in all fields, the 2025 Radar focuses on the use of artificial intelligence as a tool, not just as a subject to be secured, but as a technology at the very heart of the cyber response.

Several startups are using AI to automate, enhance or personalize their solutions:

Egonym uses generative AI to anonymize faces in images and videos while preserving useful traits like age and emotion — striking a rare balance between privacy and utility.

Hafnova applies real-time AI to detect, block, and report threats across critical infrastructures with high responsiveness and minimal delay.

Aurigin combats deepfake-based fraud in real time using multimodal AI that simultaneously analyzes voice, image, and text to validate identities. 

RedCarbon delivers autonomous AI agents capable of handling complex cybersecurity tasks such as threat detection, hunting, and compliance monitoring — significantly reducing analyst workload.

Baited leverages AI and OSINT to generate hyper-realistic phishing simulations, enabling organizations to test and train employees under real-world conditions.

It’s good to see AI becoming an essential defensive weapon contributing to the defense of our information systems.

Strong momentum around threat detection, response and monitoring

The second strong trend this year is the emergence or reinforcement of startups specializing in intrusion detection, suspicious behavior detection, incident response and continuous supervision.

This segment, already well established historically, is undoubtedly gaining strength with several new entries:

RedCarbon: AI agents for threat detection & automated hunting.

Swiss Security Hub: continuous monitoring of SAP systems with XDR integration.

Cyberservices : XDR platform based on the Google ecosystem.

Hafnova: real-time cyber supervision in critical sectors.

Tirreno: on-prem platform for online fraud detection with user trust scoring.

At a time when cyber-attacks continue to increase in number and complexity, preventive, contextualized and autonomous detection is and will remain key to strengthening operational resilience.

New ground explored: digital sovereignty and secure hardware

Among the notable additions, The Cosmic Dolphins stands out with its sovereign hardware approach:

The Cosmic Dolphins: Swiss smartphones with dual-zone OS (Shark Zone / Dolphin Zone), kill switch, and hardware-first approach to privacy.

Swiss innovation isn’t limited to software: mastery of the physical infrastructure is becoming an issue of trust, sovereignty and differentiation.

Key Figures

Geographical focus: undisputed predominance of Lausanne and Zurich, but other regions are gaining ground

Unsurprisingly, most startups are located around two main technological clusters: Zürich and Lausanne. This confirms an already existing trend since these two cities are hosting Swiss Federal institutes of technology (ETHZ in Zürich, EPFL in Lausanne).

These universities are providing a fertile ground for startups as they offer support in terms of infrastructure but also in terms of collaboration with students and labs. In return, intellectual property is shared between startups and universities. This model is a success for Switzerland as it allows to continuously improve the economy of these regions with a good balance between investment and research.

Nevertheless, other regions such as Geneva and Ticino are showing increasing dynamism, with several new startups emerging in this year’s edition. This points to a gradually diversifying ecosystem, supported by regional initiatives like innovation hubs and dedicated startup incubators.

Methodology

Wavestone’s Swiss Cybersecurity Startups Radar identifies new players in the Swiss cyber innovation ecosystem. Its objective: to provide a global and critical view of an ever-renewing environment.

• Startups were selected according to our eligibility criteria:
• Head office in Switzerland
• Less than 50 employees
• Less than 8 years of activity (established as of 2017)
• Business model around a specific product (software or hardware)
• Startups were identified and evaluated according to the following procedure:
• Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) data consolidation
• Evaluation in regard to above criteria
• Qualitative interviews with the startups

Cet article Cybersecurity Startups Radar: 2025, AI at the service of cybersecurity est apparu en premier sur RiskInsight.

Cybersecurity Regulations in Switzerland 

Two new binding national texts came into effect on July 1st, 2024, to establish a minimum cybersecurity threshold for the electricity supply and railway transport sectors. This article will focus particularly on the revision of the Electricity Supply Ordinance (OApEl).

Global Trend towards Cybersecurity Standardization

The cybersecurity landscape is shaped by various national and international frameworks and legislations:

• The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) of 2017 in the United States has become a standard for federal agencies to manage and reduce cybersecurity risks, following a presidential executive order indirectly mandating its use.
• In Europe, the 2016 Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directives, complemented by NIS 2 in 2023, aim to enhance the resilience of essential service operators (OSE) and strengthen the security of network and information systems.
• In France, the 2018 Military Programming Law (LPM) for the years 2019-2025 imposes obligations on operators of vital importance (OIV) to secure critical infrastructures against cyber threats.

These initiatives demonstrate a concerted global effort to bolster cybersecurity in response to increasingly sophisticated threats.

Changes for the Swiss Electricity Sector 

In this context, Switzerland’s minimal National ICT standard is now mandatory for the electricity supply sector. 

• The National ICT Standard in Switzerland, implemented by the Federal Office for National Economic Supply (OFAE), aims to protect infrastructures against cyber risks. It covers identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery, drawing inspiration from NIST standards to assess cybersecurity maturity and provide guidance. Unlike the European NIS directives and the French LPM, this standard is not inherently binding.
• The Swiss Electricity Supply Ordinance (OApEl) specifies the Electricity Supply Act (LApEl) and regulates the electricity market to ensure supply security, with a cybersecurity component in its article 8b on data protection. Unlike the ICT standard, it is binding. Its new version, which makes the Minimum ICT Standard mandatory for electricity sector players, took effect on July 1, 2024.

Mandatory Compliance for Swiss Electricity Actors 

Actors that must comply with the National ICT Standard under OApEl within 24 months of its effective date :  

The revised OApEl’s minimum requirements are binding upon their enactment, with no transitional period. The Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) is now responsible for defining and monitoring compliance. The concerned entities must self-assess over two years and demonstrate compliance to the ElCom. If measures are not promptly implemented, the ElCom engages with companies. In justified cases, an extension may be exceptionally granted.

Surveillance Role of the ElCom 

Under Article 22, paragraph 1 of the LApEl, the ElCom monitors compliance with OApEl provisions and related ordinances. Thus, the ElCom now has a specific mission in the cybersecurity framework for Swiss electricity actors:

• Monitoring: The ElCom monitors compliance with cyber protection measures using the NIST cybersecurity framework and minimum legislative requirements.
• Investigation: In its monitoring process, The ElCom uses self-assessment surveys to document companies’ cybersecurity practices.
• Awareness Interviews: The ElCom conducts awareness interviews with companies deemed crucial for network security and stability.
• Audits: The ElCom can conduct targeted audits in response to anomalies identified during surveys or interviews or based on external indications.

 Legal Compliance Timeline 

Expected Maturity Levels 

The revised OApEl defines three protection levels (A, B, C) to ensure cybersecurity measures are proportional to the potential impact on the Swiss ecosystem. Each level has specific measures and sets expectations for NIST maturity scores (/4).

Membership to each level is proportionate to the volume of electricity produced and/or distributed by network managers and their providers, as well as by producers (excluding nuclear), storage operators, and their providers:

• Level A: More than 450 GWh/year (operators) or more than 800 MW (producers)
• Level B: Between 450 and 112 GWh/year (operators) or between 800 and 100 MW (producers)
• Level C: Less than 112 GWh/year (operators) or less than 100 MW (producers)

Each level has expected maturity scores for NIST control points. For example, for NIST ID-AM 2 (Develop a process for inventorying and continuously maintaining a comprehensive list of your ICT equipment), a NIST maturity level of 4/4 is expected for level A, 3/4 for level B, and 2/4 for level C.

Analysis 

A detailed analysis of OApEl expectations reveals five particularly critical areas, and four others that may appear surprisingly low given the sector and associated risks.

Major compliance points (highest expected scores)

• Governance
• Access Management
• Awareness and Training
• Protection and Security Solutions
• Risk Analysis

Minor Compliance Points (Lowest Expected Scores)

• Communication during and after an incident
• Detection and Investigation
• Mitigation and Isolation
• Business Environment

It is recommended for affected organizations not to neglect preparation for incident communication, response, and isolation capabilities. These elements are crucial for the sector’s criticality to the Swiss economy and the need for operational cooperation for effective crisis management.

Conclusion

With the revision of OApEl, Switzerland’s legal framework gains a new binding sectoral text that will push market actors in the electricity sector to meet expected maturity levels as set by this new regulation.

In perspective with the CySec Rail directive and Finma circulars, Swiss cybersecurity is becoming standardized at the national level, although the texts remain disparate. Indeed, OApEl mainly relies on NIST via the Minimum ICT Standard, while the CySec Rail Directive (for railways) combines elements from ISO 2700X and NIST, and Finma circulars (for the financial sector) formalize sector-specific requirements.

Consequently, it is not unimaginable that other sectors will be impacted soon.

Cet article Switzerland Strengthens Cyber Regulations: Essential Sectors Targeted est apparu en premier sur RiskInsight.

 Every year, since 2020, Wavestone has identified Swiss cybersecurity startups in its eponymous radar. The year 2024 marks the takeoff of AI security – a critical year, characterized by the exponential progress of AI – within the Swiss ecosystem.  

Not a day seems to go by without artificial intelligence making the headlines. While this raises fundamental societal questions, there is one issue on which all experts agree: this cutting-edge technology is associated with serious risks. Various types of attacks have already been identified, such as data poisoning where attackers manipulate data or models during training to alter the outcome of the AI; oracle attacks, which involve manipulating the tool to reveal information that compromises the models or training data ; and evasion attacks, where small input perturbations cause significant output errors. 

Switzerland, as a hub of innovation and technology, has a key role to play in securing these solutions and presents Swiss startups that aim to address these risks.  

Firstly, Calvin Risk offers a platform that allows risk management and AI compliance to be managed centrally, fulfilling the current regulations that are only set to increase, as the AI act has just been approved by the European Parliament. 

As recently seen, Generative AI comes with a host of new attacks. This crucial problem is addressed by Lakera with its security solutions for Generative AI, notably against prompt injections and model extraction. 

Finally, in contexts with strong sovereignty constraints, Clear Sky offers the deployment of an on-premises artificial assistant that guarantees that the most sensitive data – from both regulatory and strategic standpoints– do not leave the perimeter.  

Integrating new AI security technologies is crucial for a safer and more ethical future. 

Key figures

• 16 employees on average
• 153M CHF in public funding
• 42 Swiss startups
• 2021 average year of creation

Start-ups on the cyber radar in 2024

Geographical focus: A start-up ecosystem concentrated in Lausanne and Zurich, but Geneva is emerging as a challenger

Unsurprisingly, most startups are located around two main technological clusters: Zürich and Lausanne. This confirms an already existing trend since these two cities are hosting Swiss Federal institutes of technology (ETHZ in Zürich, EPFL in Lausanne). 

These universities are providing fertile ground for startups as they offer support in terms of infrastructure but also in terms of collaboration with students and labs. In return, intellectual property is shared between startups and universities. This model is a success for Switzerland 

 as it allows to continuously improve the economy of these regions with a good balance between investment and research. 

Nevertheless, Geneva registers several new start-ups in this edition, allowing it to position itself as a challenger to the polytechnic hubs. Furthermore, this dynamism is expected to strengthen, as Geneva recently launched a new start-up incubator: the Trust Village Geneva. 

Methodology 

Wavestone’s Swiss Cybersecurity Startups Radar identifies new players in the Swiss cyber innovation ecosystem. Its objective: to provide a global and critical view of an ever-renewing environment. 

Startups were selected according to our eligibility criteria: 

• Head office in Switzerland 
• Less than 50 employees 
• Less than 7 years of activity (established as of 2016) 
• Business model around a specific product (software or hardware) 

Startups were identified and evaluated according to the following procedure: 

• Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) data consolidation 
• Evaluation in regard to above criteria 
• Qualitative interviews with the startups 

Cet article Cybersecurity Startups Radar: 2024, year of AI Sec in Switzerland  est apparu en premier sur RiskInsight.