# David Lehrer

> David Lehrer is the founder and CEO of Conatix and its flagship product Cysana, an AI cybersecurity venture that turns executable files into pictures so neural networks can spot malware before it ever runs. A Harvard-trained policy researcher turned deep-tech operator, he built the company across Virginia, New York, Montreal, London and Berlin, in partnership with the University of Luxembourg's SnT research center. His unusual path runs from criminology at Oxford and economics at the Bank of Finland to a patented anti-ransomware engine trained on a European supercomputer.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Conatix / Cysana
- **Organizations:** Conatix, Cysana, US Association for the Club of Rome, International Institute for Strategic Studies, World Economic Forum Technology for Integrity community
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor's degree, Harvard University, Master of Public Administration, Harvard Kennedy School, Master's degree, Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Built Cysana, an AI malware-detection platform combining seven detection filters for combined effectiveness exceeding 99%, Developed image-based malware detection that converts executables into 2D images for neural network analysis, Secured an exclusive license to a University of Luxembourg anti-ransomware technology patented in 15 countries

## Career timeline

- **Early career** — Visiting fellow and research associate in criminology and international development at Oxford
- **Early career** — Visiting economist at the Bank of Finland
- **Early career** — Guest researcher in political economy at WZB Berlin
- **—** — Founded Conatix, building large-scale unstructured text discovery, analytics and visualization used or beta-tested by Accenture, BAE Systems, IBM, Dassault Systemes, BNY Mellon and Cisco
- **—** — Served as CEO and Principal Investigator on IARPA BETTER text-analytics work
- **2019** — Raised seed funding for Conatix
- **2024** — Launched Cysana AI cybersecurity app; won Products That Count 2024 Product Award in AI & Data

## Achievements

- Built Cysana, an AI malware-detection platform combining seven detection filters for combined effectiveness exceeding 99%
- Developed image-based malware detection that converts executables into 2D images for neural network analysis
- Secured an exclusive license to a University of Luxembourg anti-ransomware technology patented in 15 countries
- Won the 2024 Products That Count Product Award in the AI & Data category
- Named to the global CyberTech 100 for innovative banking cybersecurity startups
- Recognized by the UK government cybersecurity directorate as one of the most innovative startups two years running
- Top 10% in the Citi Tech for Integrity Challenge; received a 1.2M CAD PROMPT R&D grant
- Trained and tested Cysana neural networks on Luxembourg's MeluXina supercomputer

## Latest updates

- **2024-04** — Launched Cysana enterprise app integrating AI and University of Luxembourg research; announced anti-ransomware and image-based malware detection.

## Links

- Website: https://cysana.co
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/david-lehrer-2b16181a

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-lehrer
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-24