Malaga youth create cyber-security start-up in Google basement and win national award

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A team of Malaga University graduates and their mentor launched the AI-powered Omnia project, which received Google's approval and became a start-up

Nuria Triguero

Málaga

Friday, 20 February 2026, 15:45

The Omnia project was born in the basement of Google's offices in Malaga. Behind it are a team of Malaga University graduates, engineers and their mentor, Senior Manager at Google Bernardo Quintero. Together, they have launched an AI chat assistant that analyses viruses. From an R&D project, Omnia has now become an award-winning start-up.

They call themselves the Málaga Basement Team and their creation shows how collaboration between private companies and public universities can serve society. Quintero confirms that this is exactly what lies at the foundation of Omnia: a platform "to serve the community, both expert analysts and the general public".

"It works as a chat room specialised in virus analysis and any other aspect of cyber-security, able to carry out highly technical tasks or answer questions at user level. It knows how to handle security tools in order to better assist both in investigations and in any need a user may have. It also allows users to create and share resources such as prompts, workflows, knowledge bases and intelligent agents, with the flexibility to use different AI models. In short, an AI-based collaborative space where experts and the curious can learn, experiment and contribute to making the internet safer," Quintero says.

Omnia has won the Málaga Basement Team the award in the entrepreneurship category at Premios Nacionales de Ingeniería Informática. The event at Palacio del Senado in Madrid is taking place on 20 March.

According to the organisers of the event, their aim is to recognise "the work and contribution of ten companies, individuals and institutions that make an important contribution to various areas of society through computer engineering".