CCI Funds 10 Cybersecurity Innovation Projects from Four Virginia Universities

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative has funded 10 projects from across Virginia to boost cybersecurity innovation in such areas as tamper resilient communication, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and more. 

The 2025 Commonwealth Cyber Incubator + Accelerator (CCI+A) cohort includes researchers from George Mason University, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Tech as well as startups OneTier Corp, FraudOptics, Taurus nuEnergy, Critical Shift Corp. and CodeLock Inc. 

The CCI+A program is co-funded by the CCI Northern Virginia (NoVA) Node and the CCI Hub, which manages statewide programs. 

"CCI+A is an excellent example of a CCI program that began regionally and expanded statewide,” said Luiz DaSilva, CCI executive director. “Through this successful strategy, we’re able to grow Virginia’s cybersecurity innovation ecosystem and contribute to the economy."

The CCI+A program has supported 32 new cybersecurity entities since it began in 2022. 

"It is exciting to see the program's impact on the ability of these teams to raise new funds and expand their reach and impact in the cyber marketplace,” said Liza Wilson Durant, CCI NoVA Node director.  “New jobs are being created, new revenues are brought to Virginia, and new cybersecurity technologies are being deployed. CCI+A is one of our most impactful programs and addresses all three of CCI's mission lines to impact research, innovation and workforce development across the commonwealth."

Learn more about CCI’s innovation mission.

CCI+A

CCI+A offers two distinct tracks: one tailored for teams emerging from Virginia public research universities, supported by the CATAPULT Fund; and another for startup teams collaborating with faculty subject matter experts through the ASCEND Fund.

CATAPULT Funded Projects

The Cyber Acceleration, Translation, and Advanced Prototyping for University Linked Technology (CATAPULT) Fund aims to enhance the development of cyber innovations during the pivotal “Valley of Death” phase.

• Ultra-Sub-Wavelength: Polarization Transmitting Embedded Nano-Antenna for Secure and Tamper-Resilient Communication
  Principal Investigator (PI) Supriyo Bandyopadhyay (Virginia Commonwealth University), Dong Ha (Virginia Tech), Fariborz Lohrabi (Virginia Tech)
• InvisibleID - Distortion-free Multi-bit Watermarking for Large Language Models
  PI Massieh Kordi Boroujeny (George Mason University)
• RAEMAP: Advancing Secure Real-Time Eye-Tracking for Next-Gen Training and Assessments
  PIs Sampath Jayarathna, Yusuke Yamani (Old Dominion University) 
• DeepScan: Threat Scanner for On-Device AI
  PI Rui Ning (Old Dominion University) 
• Obfuscating Text and Images for Data Loss Prevention
  PI Mingkui Wei (George Mason University)

ASCEND Funded Projects

This year, CCI introduced the ASCEND (The Academic Support for Cybersecurity Entrepreneurship and Next-Gen Development) Fund, a mechanism designed to help early-stage companies and startups access and partner with academic subject matter experts (SMEs) to develop and further advance solutions to technical problems they've encountered in industry.

• OneTier Corp: AI-Driven Defensive Cybersecurity through Integrated Zero Trust
  PI Massimiliano Albanese (George Mason University) 
• FraudOptics: Combating Crypto Risk
  PI Foteini Baldimtsi (George Mason University) 
• Taurus nuEnergy: Distributed Energy Systems Business Planning through Digital Twin
  PI Ross Gore & Sachin Shetty (Old Dominion University) 
• Critical Shift Corp.: Secure Mesh Network for Field Communication
  PI Brian Mark (George Mason University) 
• CodeLock, Inc.: Securing Computer Code using Dynamically Generated Digital Signatures 
  PI Kun Sun (George Mason University) 

CONTACT

Michele McDonald