Piiano Secures $9M to Revolutionize PII Protection

Piiano Emerges from Stealth with $9 Million to Revolutionize Data Privacy

Piiano, a Tel Aviv-based company, is dedicated to safeguarding customer data through enhanced privacy measures. The company is officially launching today, alongside the announcement of a $9 million funding round. This investment was spearheaded by YL Ventures, with participation from a collective of angel investors.

Key Investors

• Danny Grander, founder of Snyk
• Nadir Izrael, co-founder of Armis
• Eynat Guez, co-founder and CEO of Papaya Global
• Yinon Costica, co-founder of Wiz
• Ariel Maislos, a prominent angel investor

Piiano’s core philosophy centers on the inevitability of data breaches. Therefore, the focus shifts to ensuring data sets are devoid of personally identifiable information (PII) and are thoroughly pseudonymized.

Addressing Current Data Security Shortcomings

The company contends that existing data security methods are often ineffective. Many organizations lack complete awareness of where all PII resides within their systems, leading to substantial investment in data visibility tools.

Co-founders Gil Dabah and Ariel Shiftan draw a parallel between Piiano’s methodology and governmental handling of classified information. Just as governments redact sensitive documents while securely storing the originals, Piiano aims to diminish the value of compromised data.

A Proactive Approach to Data Protection

“Our goal with Piiano is to minimize privacy risk to zero, acknowledging that data breaches are a matter of time,” stated Dabah. “The emphasis is on privacy, as attackers will inevitably find a way into systems. We must proactively address the system itself.”

Piiano offers a dual solution: tools for data pseudonymization and a secure vault for storing original data with restricted access. This approach aims to prevent the wholesale extraction of sensitive information.

Segregating and Securing PII

Dabah explained, “Our innovation lies in pseudonymizing data sets and isolating PII in a secure location, enabling continuous monitoring and protection. This prevents attackers from simply requesting all data.”

The company differentiates itself from existing point solutions by providing a more holistic privacy framework. However, adopting Piiano necessitates a shift in both the technical infrastructure and organizational culture surrounding data privacy.

Building Privacy into the Development Lifecycle

The team believes their service empowers developers to integrate privacy and security directly into their code, rather than retrofitting it as an afterthought. This proactive integration is a key benefit of the platform.

The Piiano Vault: Secure Data Storage

Currently, The Vault, a central component of Piiano’s solution, is deployed within a business’ existing cloud environment. This ensures that customer data remains within the client’s control and does not leave their systems.