Edinburgh Napier University

A team of Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) cybersecurity experts have taken their fight against impersonation scams to the next level – after setting up their own company.

Their project, LastingAsset, has become the latest to spin out from the University, joining an illustrious list of cyber firms that began life at the School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment.

LastingAsset started out as a cybersecurity project to protect digital assets, before the founding team adapted the technology to tackle imposter calls.

Their service uses cryptographic encryption and artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent fraud perpetuated by rogue actors who impersonate an organisation or individual. 

Almost half of all fraud has an impersonation aspect and criminals are increasingly duping victims by using AI to socially engineer, voice clone and deep fake individuals. These crimes cost organisations across the UK billions of pounds every year.

The cryptography-based verification process developed by LastingAsset can assure client firms and their customers that they are speaking to a legitimate caller.

Having spent recent months developing their product, LastingAsset will now become the latest ENU spin-out company – the term used for new businesses which began life as an academic project.

The project was initially developed by ENU academics Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh and Professor Bill Buchanan. Their team includes co-founder and CEO Nanik Ramchandani, newly appointed Chief Operating Officer Ciara Mitchell and Senior Software Engineer Dmitri Timoshenko.

Since establishing the project more than two years ago, they have been backed by significant funding from Scottish Enterprise's High Growth Spinout Programme, Innovate UK, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Data Lab. Their work has also drawn award recognition from the likes of Converge – claiming its Cisco Future Tech Award in 2023.

Having developed the technology, the LastingAsset team have begun exploring pilots with early adopter customers – and recently participated in a Scottish Enterprise programme to test the American market.

Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh, LastingAsset, Co-founder & Chief Technical Officer, said: “Impersonation scams cause untold misery for people all around the world, and this is a big moment in our effort to fight against them.

“Edinburgh Napier University has a strong track record of supporting projects like ours to become major international companies, and we would like to thank colleagues for their help to get us to this point.”

Professor Bill Buchanan, LastingAsset, Co-founder & Chief Innovator, said: “In an era of AI, there are so many opportunities to integrate privacy and digital trust into our online world.

“Our vision is to create systems which respect the rights of privacy of citizens, but where we can still address challenges around financial fraud and identity theft.

“We are aiming to build automated systems which can be trusted from a human and a technical level."

Nanik Ramchandani, LastingAsset, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, said: “With the rapid development of AI and deepfake technology, it is more important than ever to stay one step ahead of fraudsters.

“We are determined to provide individuals with the peace of mind to confidently continue to communicate with each other knowing that they are secure and not being scammed.”

Fiona Mason, Head of Business Engagement and IP Commercialisation at Edinburgh Napier University, said: “We are delighted with the launch of LastingAsset, the fifth spin-out from the Cybersecurity group within the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment.

“Lasting Asset's fraud detection is set to deliver significant benefits to people's lives, by making everyday phone communications more trustworthy for everyone.

“We can't do this alone – we are incredibly grateful for the support of our vibrant ecosystem which has been instrumental in supporting this project. I’d also like to offer thanks and congratulations to the founding team whose dedication and commitment have brought this vision to life.

“We are so proud of LastingAsset, which exemplifies our ambition to foster innovation, translate our research into real-world impact, and drive economic growth through groundbreaking technology.”

By spinning out, LastingAsset joins an impressive list of companies that began life as projects at the University, including the likes of Cyacomb, MemCrypt, Symphonic Software, ZoneFox, Mercel and Celtic Renewables.

In 2023 ENU was named among the UK’s top ten universities for generating spin-out firms.

Top picture caption: (L-R) Dr Zakwan Jaroucheh, Nanik Ramchandani, Professor Bill Buchanan, Dmitri Timoshenko, Ciara Mitchell.