Member Profile – Red Balloon Security

What does your company do? What services or products do you provide?  

Founded in 2011 by Dr. Ang Cui, Red Balloon Security emerged from Columbia University’s Intrusion Detection Lab, specializing in versatile, host-based security solutions that deliver continuous runtime defense for the devices powering critical infrastructure worldwide.

Supported by our multifaceted team of engineers, researchers, and security professionals, we have identified and responsibly disclosed vulnerabilities across an array of widely available commercial products, advancing the resilience of embedded security through published research and industry collaboration.

Red Balloon Security is trusted and deployed by the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Air Force Research Laboratory, and Fortune 500 companies across aerospace, automotive, enterprise IT, telecommunications, and other critical sectors.

Why did you join COVESA, and how long has your company been a member?

Red Balloon Security joined COVESA in March of 2026 to help ensure that embedded runtime defense and firmware security are built into the standards shaping connected and software‑defined vehicles. We bring deep expertise in protecting in‑vehicle ECUs and gateways so safety‑critical systems can withstand modern cyberattacks. COVESA’s collaborative environment lets us work directly with OEMs, Tier‑1s, and platform providers on secure data, API, and service architectures.

What benefits does your participation in COVESA bring to your company and business? 

Participation in COVESA gives Red Balloon access to the decision‑makers who are shaping connected‑vehicle and SDV architectures, shortening our path to real program opportunities. It also lets us influence designs so that robust embedded security and runtime defense are treated as baseline requirements, not afterthoughts. Being active in member projects, showcases, and working groups increases our visibility and credibility in the automotive ecosystem, making it easier for customers and partners to trust us with safety‑critical systems. Finally, COVESA offers a structured environment for co‑innovation that helps turn our security research into deployable, standards‑aligned solutions for the market.

Which COVESA collaborative project(s) or Birds of a Feather (BoF) is your company engaged in, and why is that beneficial to your business?

Red Balloon Security is an active contributor to the COVESA Cybersecurity Working Group, where we recently presented our Holistic Connected Vehicle Defense framework, and we supported the COVESA member showcase at AutoTech Detroit in June 2026.