The new face of security: Private photo keys offer Frictionless, memorable, and unhackable authentication with Photolok.
With AI-driven cybercrime projected to hit a staggering $10.5 trillion globally, traditional security measures like passwords and biometrics are rapidly becoming obsolete. In response to this escalating threat, Santa Barbara-based Netlok has introduced Photolok, a patented visual authentication platform. Designed to outsmart AI and deepfake attacks, Photolok eliminates the need for vulnerable passwords and passkeys by leveraging the human brain’s natural ability to recognize images. Read the full press release below to learn how this decade-in-the-making solution is setting a new standard for digital identity protection.
As AI-Powered Cybercrime Surges Past $10 Trillion, California Cyber Expert Unveils the Only Authentication System Built to Withstand It
Netlok’s patented Photolok platform replaces passwords, biometrics, and passkeys with AI-resilient visual authentication — a solution a decade in the making for a crisis that has finally arrived
SANTA BARBARA, CA (April 2026) — The global cybersecurity crisis has entered a new and far more dangerous phase. Artificial intelligence has handed attackers the tools to automate credential theft at unprecedented speed, and the identity systems billions of people rely on every day — passwords, biometrics, and passkeys — are falling one by one. Netlok, LLC, a California-based cybersecurity innovator, is answering with Photolok, the first and only patented identity platform engineered from the ground up to be AI-resilient.
The numbers are staggering. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported $16.6 billion in cybercrime losses in 2024, a 33% surge over the prior year1. Industry researchers at Cybersecurity Ventures project global cybercrime damages will reach $10.5 trillion in 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015 — the largest transfer of economic wealth in history2. According to Microsoft’s 2025 Digital Defense Report, more than 97% of identity attacks now rely on password spray or brute-force methods, and Microsoft alone blocks approximately 7,000 password attacks per second3.
“AI is the invisible world. In the physical world, if somebody runs a red light and hits your car, you can see the damage and you deal with it. With AI, you cannot see it coming, and you do not understand how you are going to be attacked. That’s what makes this threat so overwhelming — not just to the U.S., but to the world.” — Tony Perez, CEO, Netlok LLC4
Deepfake technology has rendered facial recognition, voice verification, and fingerprint scanning fundamentally unreliable — 47% of organizations reported experiencing deepfake-based attacks in the past year5. Passkeys, widely promoted as the successor to passwords, depend on those same compromised biometrics as their first step. According to Perez, incremental fixes no longer change attacker economics.
“Traditional IAM solutions are outdated. Innovative invention is always ahead of the market, and I saw this coming in 2015. No one was taking the replacement of passwords seriously until the Sony breach. Now, with AI, the situation is grave from top to bottom.” — Tony Perez6
Photolok replaces the traditional identity and access methods with photo-based login designed around how the human brain naturally works. Users randomly receive three photos from Photolok’s custom library during setup. At login, they identify those photos from randomized visual portfolios — a process that takes ten to fifteen seconds and requires no passwords, no biometric data, and no memorized codes. Four layers of randomization — cryptographic, behavioral, temporal, and deceptive — protects the user’s identity from AI attacks with every session. Because nothing is static and nothing repeats, AI has nothing to learn, replicate, or predict.
Photolok also introduces Situational Security features that protect the person, not just the credential. Duress Photos act as a silent alarm if a user is logging in under coercion. One-Time Photos self-destruct after a single use to defeat shoulder-surfing. The technology is protected by granted patents spanning the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, and Mexico.
About Netlok, LLC
Netlok, LLC is a Santa Barbara, California-based cybersecurity company and creator of Photolok, a patented photo-based identity platform that eliminates passwords and resists AI-driven attacks. Founded by serial inventor Tony Perez — whose prior inventions include a patented safety syringe developed during the AIDS epidemic — ARP-IP (Perez) holds granted patents across the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, and Mexico. Photolok’s visual authentication method leverages the brain’s natural ability to recognize images, delivering an identity solution that is both ultra-secure and effortlessly human. For more information, please visit www.netlok.com.
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SOURCES & CITATIONS
1. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 2024 Internet Crime Report. The IC3 received 859,532 complaints in 2024 with $16.6 billion in reported losses, a 33% increase over 2023. Available at: https://www.ic3.gov
2. Cybersecurity Ventures, 2025 Official Cybercrime Report. Global cybercrime damage costs are predicted to reach $10.5 trillion annually in 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015. Cited by Cybercrime Magazine as the industry’s most widely referenced cybercrime projection. Available at: https://cybersecurityventures.com
3. Microsoft, Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025 (October 2025). More than 97% of identity-based attacks rely on password spray or brute-force techniques. Microsoft processes over 600 million identity attacks daily, blocking an estimated 7,000 password attacks per second. Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/security
4. Tony Perez, CEO, Netlok LLC. Interview with Christie & Co, April 6, 2026. Direct quotation.
5. iProov, Threat Intelligence Report 2025. 47% of organizations surveyed reported experiencing deepfake-based identity attacks. Corroborated by Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025, which documented a 195% increase in AI-generated ID usage globally. Available at: https://www.iproov.com
6. Tony Perez, CEO, Netlok LLC. Interview with Christie & Co, April 6, 2026. Direct quotation. Netlok’s foundational patents were filed in January 2015; Netlok LLC was incorporated in 2017. Patent documentation available upon request.
