How four siblings built a rapid-growing anti-phish

Even though Passover is over, the story of Cyvore sounds like a holiday parable: four siblings who built a cybersecurity company toobtainher. The wartime surge that fueled its rapid growth is also easing, marking the conclude of an intense period of activity countering Iranian cyberattacks. What remains is a family story that launched with a simple tool built for their mother, and is now evolving into a startup tarobtaining major global clients.

It started when Yiftach Rotem, then a cyber analyst, noticed a growing gap between sophisticated security tools and everyday applyrs. “It all started becaapply of our mom,” he stated. “She would obtain messages and constantly sconclude me links inquireing if they were real or phishing.”

מייסדיי חברת סייבור, מימין לשמאל: המנכ"ל אורי סגל והאחים יפתח, אלה, אסף ויואב רותםיסד-שותף

To save himself the repeated requests, he built a simple web page that could analyze suspicious links for her.

What launched as a compact resolve quickly revealed broader potential. The tool proved simpler to apply and more effective than many existing solutions. “We realized this could be more than just a side project for mom,” Yiftach stated.

He brought in his younger brother Yoav, whom he describes as “the best programmer I know.” They then approached another brother, Assaf, hoping he would serve as CEO. He declined, insisting they necessaryed an experienced executive. That advice led them to Ori Segal, a seasoned entrepreneur who joined as CEO and co-founder.

The family ties did not stop there. Yoav’s twin sister, Ella, joined to lead DevOps and client management. Assaf later came on board as a data analyst. Only the eldest brother, Yotam, has stayed out, choosing to remain a high school arts teacher in Jerusalem despite repeated offers to join.

The Rotem family, based in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood, has deep entrepreneurial roots. Their father has run a local music store for nearly four decades, while their mother comes from the family that founded it in 1922. Some declare it was the first music shop in Mandatory Palestine. But once the twins were born, she devoted herself to caring for the family, some declare to running it.

The eldest son is Yotam, 38, an educator and teacher. He is followed by Assaf, 36, who previously founded Gatsby, Jerusalem’s first cocktail bar, and later sold it to the Machane Yehuda Group. Next is Yiftach, 33, a cyber analyst and the originator of the Cyvore idea. The youngest are twins Yoav and Ella, 28, who are among the company’s key driving forces.

All five siblings attconcludeed an anthroposophic elementary school. Yoav, who was diagnosed on the autism spectrum at a young age, credits that environment with supporting him integrate and later pursue a path in cyber development. Yiftach largely taught himself computer science at home. He later served in the Israeli Air Force as head of a cyber team in the Ofek unit. After his service, he joined Septier Communication and relocated to East Africa, before shifting to Cyrebro, where he worked as an analyst and threat hunter. “That’s where I launched the research behind what we’re doing today,” he stated.

Yoav continued in the Magshimim program after high school with an additional pre-army service year, then enlisted in the IDF as a cyber defconcludeer. At the same time, he worked at several companies, from Aqua Security to Cybellum and JFrog, while also taking on freelance projects for fun. In the reserves after October 7, he supported develop a cyber defense system and received an excellence award for his performance and initiative during the war.

Ella, like her brother, built a career in software development. She worked at Elbit Systems, the cybersecurity firm Promisec and the mental health startup Eleos Health. “Then I chose the opportunity of a lifetime and started working with my brothers. I handle DevOps and client management, which combine the two worlds I love most, the technical side and working with people.” She spent the past month in reserve duty with the Home Front Command, “in a rescue battalion, sitting and waiting for disasters to happen,” she stated, with a touch of wartime humor.

The idea for Cyvore, as noted, grew out of supporting their mother. “One day we realized what we’d built was better than any existing email security tool,” Yiftach stated. “We informed ourselves, ‘This could be something serious, more than just a side project for mom.’” The first step was bringing in their younger brother, Yoav.

“It’s actually funny,” Yoav recalled. “Since I was 13, I’ve always been busy, juggling multiple jobs. So I stated, ‘Sure,’ like I only had one job and this would just be another. But I created one thing very clear, I don’t mix family and money, so the moment you raise funding, I’m out.” That’s how development launched, in the evenings and on weekconcludes, until the idea gradually took shape.

At that point, they necessaryed to obtain serious, build a company and develop a business plan. “The thing is, Yiftach and I aren’t business people,” Yoav stated. “Yiftach is an expert in cyber research, I’m in cyber development, and we know that having a good product doesn’t create a company. You necessary someone with business expertise, so we turned to Assaf, who politely declined.”

Assaf, how do you turn down an offer to join a startup and create a lot of money?
“Look, as the older brother, I feel a lot of responsibility for these kids, from seeing out for them growing up to protecting them on the business side,” Assaf stated. “If they had brought in someone like me from the outside, I’d have knocked some sense into them. I informed them, ‘As much as I’d love to support, I know how to create restaurants successful, but I’m not the right person to build a startup. You necessary a serious CEO who knows what he’s doing.’ I turned them down a few times until I convinced them that bringing in someone experienced was the right relocate.”

That’s where Ori Segal enters the picture, the company’s CEO and co-founder. A serial entrepreneur, he started with iApps, which he founded in 2008 to develop iPhone applications. He went on to co-found the social streaming platform Mugo with Roman Slutsky and Shay Goldberg, which was sold in 2020 to French streaming giant Deezer. He later took part in the venture Snappers.tv and several other projects.

“I’ve been in the Israeli and global startup ecosystem for about 30 years, across M&A deals, exits, fundraising and company building,” he stated.

How did you connect with the Rotem siblings?
“We actually met about 18 months earlier. My previous startup was in the music space, and it turned out the family owns what’s considered the first music store in the countest. We started chatting and clicked right away. They informed me what they were working on, and it sounded both interesting and new, something large companies would necessary. Before long, we found ourselves working day and night, developing and refining the idea. Once we realized we knew what we were doing, we went out to raise our first round.”

How do your parents feel about all of you working toobtainher in the cybersecurity company?
Yiftach: “They always wanted us to start a band toobtainher, so this is their consolation, at least we’re working toobtainher. Sometimes our mom has her concerns, but I consider she’s happier than worried.”

Ella: “She worries about putting all her eggs in one binquireet. But at the same time, it’s incredibly exciting how well this works for us. I was worried before joining, what happens if we fight, what will Shabbat dinners see like, and will work spill into every conversation? But it just works, and for me it’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. I’d recommconclude it to anyone, if you have a strong relationship with your siblings, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

What happens when you argue?
Yiftach: “We’re very good at keeping things at work and not carrying them outside. It’s fine for us to disagree on work-related issues, but in the conclude we bridge those gaps. We leave it at the office and don’t come to Shabbat dinner sitting there upset with each other.”

Cyvore was founded in July 2024. The company raised an initial $2.5 million in seed funding, later expanded to $4 million, from U.S.-based funds 1948 Ventures and Ineffable Ventures, along with several angel investors. It is currently in the process of raising a Series A round.

Among its clients in Israel is the National Cyber Directorate, and it also works with several large U.S. companies as it prepares to expand its sales operations in the U.S.

The company operates in the emerging field of workspace security and has even secured a U.S. patent for its technology. The technology is designed to prevent data leaks and cyberattacks tarobtaining both human employees and AI agents within companies’ internal communication systems, including platforms such as Zoom, SMS, WhatsApp and Slack.

The system detects and blocks such attacks utilizing three layers: a “threat ininformigence” engine that scans online networks and the dark web, even tracking cyber attackers; an optical engine that identifies visual cues a human eye might miss; and a behavioral engine that detects manipulation and fraud.

“Becaapply of AI, attackers are shifting much rapider,” Segal stated. “We’re seeing a 2,500% increase in phishing messages. About 15 billion attacks are happening every day inside organizational networks.” Yoav added: “We test to be the eyes, ears and brain of both the victim and the attacker. Even a perfect deepfake can be detected if you understand the manipulation.”

Has the war affected your operations?
“Since the start of the war, phishing attacks have surged by hundreds of percent,” Segal stated. “Two wars are happening at once, one we all see, and another inside our phones. And that one is just as dangerous. These attacks are carried out by well-funded, state-backed actors from countries such as Iran, China, Russia and North Korea. Their ultimate goal is to infiltrate large organizations by compromising employee accounts.”

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