Business Briefing, 4.15.20

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

Onfido in discussions with the US government over COVID-19 "immunity passports."
CrowdStrike investigates New York state government hack.
Zoom zero-days up for sale, but demand is still in question.
Chicago and Equifax reach $1.5 million settlement.
Facebook sues cloaking software company.

Mergers and acquisitions.

CollabNet VersionOne, XebiaLabs, and Arxan Technologies are merging to form a new company, Digital.ai. The company is backed by TPG Capital, and will bring together "leaders in business agility, software delivery, and application security into one integrated, intelligent value stream platform."

Investcorp Technology Partners, the private equity arm of Bahrain-headquartered multinational bank Investcorp, has acquired German antivirus and threat intelligence firm Avira for $180 million. Gilbert Kamieniecky, Managing Director and Head of Investcorp's Technology Private Equity business, stated that "Investcorp is looking forward to supporting Avira’s targeted growth trajectory and expansion plans."

San Jose, California-based cloud security company Zscaler will acquire Seattle-based cloud misconfiguration detection startup Cloudneeti. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will allow Zscaler to "provide its customers industry-leading data protection coverage in the Zscaler Cloud Security Platform."

Investments and exits.

London-based biometric identity verification company Onfido raised $100 million in a funding round led by TPG Growth, TechCrunch reports. The company will use the funding to expand its business, work on building an online identity verification platform to replace credit bureaus and online logins, and look at ways to securely virtualize processes such as voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Business Insider reports that Onfido is already in discussions with the US government to link people's identification documents to their medical records in order to grant "immunity passports" to those who have recovered from the disease.

San Francisco-based bug bounty company Bugcrowd has raised $30 million in a Series D round led by Rally Ventures. The funding "will help Bugcrowd accelerate the expansion of its industry-leading crowdsourced security platform."

Santa Clara, California-based network traffic analysis company Awake Security has raised $36 million in a Series C round led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Energize Ventures and Liberty Global Ventures, as well as existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Greylock Partners. Awake says it will use the funding " to propel expansion in areas including R&D, sales and marketing to meet the growing demand for the company’s advanced network traffic analysis platform."

New York City-based passwordless identity management company Beyond Identity publicly launched on Tuesday and raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, LLC and New Enterprise Associates. The company was founded by Jim Clark and Tom Jermoluk and aims to replace passwords with X.509-based certificates.

San Francisco-based code-level error monitoring company Airbrake has raised $11 million in a funding round led by Elsewhere Partners. Shelley Perry, Executive Chairman of Airbrake, stated that the investment "allows Airbrake to focus on value-led growth, which includes increasing customer feedback, building community, and investing in partnerships within the CI/CD ecosystem."

Santa Barbara, California-based network traffic analysis provider MixMode has secured $4 million in a Series A round led by Entrada Ventures, with participation from Keshif Ventures and Blu Venture Investors. VentureBeat says MixMode will use the funding to improve its platform, hire more employees, and increase its marketing efforts.

Lightspeed Venture Partners secured a total of $4.2 billion for three of its funds from undisclosed sources, Crunchbase News reports.

Executive moves.

BigID has hired Roger Hale as its Chief Security Officer. Hale was previously CISO-in-Residence at YL Ventures.

Optiv Security has appointed Kevin Lynch as its new CEO. Lynch will also join Optiv's Board of Directors. He previously served as a senior partner and chief global officer for Deloitte.

Nixu Corporation has added Jaya Baloo to its Board of Directors. She currently serves as CISO at Avast.

Perspecta has hired Orlando Figueredo as a vice president of business development. Figueredo previously served as vice president of operations for SAIC.

ForgeRock has appointed Eve Maler as its new Chief Technology Officer. Maler was previously ForgeRock's VP of Innovation and Emerging Technology.

AttackIQ has hired as Chief Marketing Officer and Jonathan Reiber as Senior Director of Cybersecurity Strategy and Policy. O'Brien previously served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Nutanix, while Reiber was previously Chief Strategy Officer for Cyber Policy and Speechwriter in the Office of the Secretary of Defense under President Obama.

Beacon Global Strategies has added Thomas P. Bossert to its Board of Advisors. Bossert most recently served as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

GroupSense has hired Adam Bregenzer as chief technology officer and Jeffrey Duran as chief marketing officer. Bregenzer was most recently a senior engineering manager at Venmo, while Duran was previously vice president of marketing for Nisos.

Cofense has promoted its Chief of Staff, Brandi Moore, to Chief Operating Officer. Cofense also hired Mark Small as SVP of Worldwide Sales and Carolyn Merritt as VP of Customer Experience. Smalls previously led Proofpoint's Digital Risk Worldwide Sales and Technical teams, while Merritt has held "executive leadership roles at various technology companies including Dataprise, Metalogix Software and Cision."

Zscaler has hired Foad Farrokhnia as its head of channels for Australia and New Zealand, CRN reports. Farrokhnia was most recently global head of enterprise capability and growth for Telstra.

Secureworks has appointed Nader Baghdadi as its new Middle East Regional Sales Director, SME10X reports. Baghdadi most recently served as Senior Regional Sales Director at Fortinet.

Parsons Corporation has hired Dana Turturro as its senior vice president of talent acquisition. Turturro has previously "held talent acquisition and mobility roles with CACI International, CSRA and Peraton."

Security companies in the news.

CrowdStrike was hired by New York's state government to investigate an intrusion into the state's computer network, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Journal says CrowdStrike "identified more than 25 servers and encrypted networking appliances that were compromised in the January hack."

Motherboard reports that Zoom zero-day vulnerabilities are selling for between $5,000 to $30,000—low compared to powerful zero-days in browsers or mobile operating systems. Motherboard quotes a defense contractor as saying his customers still aren't sure whether they can benefit from Zoom exploits.

The city of Chicago has reached a $1.5 million settlement with Equifax over the credit reporting agency's 2017 data breach, Law Street reports.

Facebook is suing the founder of a company called "LeadCloak" for selling software to assist in ad-spoofing, Business Insider reports. Facebook alleges that the company was helping scammers place fraudulent ads on Facebook and Instagram.

Marketplace.

Silicon Valley Icons Jim Clark and Tom Jermoluk Launch “Beyond Identity” (Beyond Identity) $30 Million Round led by KDT and NEA to Fund Groundbreaking Innovation that Eliminates Passwords and Replaces them with a Chain of Trust™

Awake Security Raises Series C Investment to Fuel Expansion and Adoption of its Advanced Network Traffic Analysis Platform (BusinessWire) Awake Security announced a $36 million Series C financing led by Evolution Equity Partners with Energize Ventures and Liberty Global Ventures.

Onfido Secures $100 Million to Set New Identity Standard for Digital Access (Onfido) Led by TPG Growth, new funds to service global demand for identity verification and authentication

Lightspeed Boosts Three Funds With $4B (Crunchbase News) Latest fund is focused on Series A and B rounds, a larger fund primarily for later stage, and a third that will focus on investing internationally.

Capstone Headwaters advises Revolutionary Security on its Sale to Accenture LLP (Capstone Headwaters) Capstone Headwaters, a leading international investment banking firm, advised Revolutionary Security LLC (“RevSec” or “The Company”) on the sale of 100% of its membership interests to Accenture LLP.

With new vulnerability management tools, NeuVector aims to strengthens container security (SiliconANGLE) With new vulnerability management tools, NeuVector aims to strengthens container security - SiliconANGLE

Cyber Risks Impact on Mergers and Acquisitions (Infosecurity Magazine) In an acquisition, the purchasing organization also acquires the associated cybersecurity program and cyber risks.

As cybersecurity concerns grow, so does need for security professionals (Cincinnati Business Journal) Businesses in the U.S. and across the globe are under attack. State and city governments are, too. The enemy is invisible and so are its weapons.

Duff & Phelps Announces Completion of Acquisition by Investor Consortium (Yahoo) Duff & Phelps has announced the completion of its acquisition by a global investor consortium.

CFIUS Clearance: Capgemini and Leidos Cyber (The National Law Review) In 2018, Capgemini SE, a French multinational corporation providing consulting, professional, technology and outsourcing services announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Leidos Cyber, the “commercial cybersecurity arm” of the US company Leidos Holdings Inc.

Airbrake Raises $11M to Monitor for Coding Errors in Real-Time (AustinInno) Buggy apps mean lost opportunities for businesses everywhere.

Bugcrowd raises $30M in Series D to expand its bug bounty platform (TechCrunch) The bug bounty company has raised $80 million to date.

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Huawei courts more developers in app rivalry with Google, Apple (ABS-CBN News) Huawei called on developers to join its growing app marketplace, present in some 400 million devices, as it released its second premium smartphone with its own mobile services front and center.

Why Palo Alto Networks Stock Dropped 11% in March (The Motley Fool) Investors sold off most cybersecurity specialists last month.

Gambling company to set aside $30 million to deal with cyber-attack fallout (ZDNet) In the middle of a merger, SBTech will have $30 million placed in escrow to deal with the repercussions of a suspected ransomware infection.

Helping existing customers is key for Forcepoint channel (MicroscopeUK) Recently appointed EMEA vice-president of sales shares his view of how Forcepoint channel will get through the coronavirus and grow in the future.

Coalfire's Bayerkohler Wins Women Leaders In Technology Award (The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel) Coalfire, a provider of cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, announced today that Anne Bayerkohler, director of quality and compliance at Coalfire, has been

Navy, Senate Researching Cyber Services (Nextgov.com) The Navy is putting feelers out for an intelligence analyst, while the Senate explores the landscape for penetration testing.

Secretive big data company Palantir expects $1 billion in revenue this year and to break even for the first time in its 16-year history (Business Insider) Palantir is reportedly preparing for an IPO. It's known for its work with government organizations, including its controversial contracts with ICE.

Zscaler snaps up cloud security startup Cloudneeti (SiliconANGLE) Publicly traded cybersecurity provider Zscaler Inc. today said it’s acquiring Cloudneeti Corp., a Seattle startup that helps companies find configuration-related vulnerabilities in their cloud applications.

German security firm Avira has been acquired by Investcorp at a $180M valuation (TechCrunch) Mergers and acquisitions largely grinded to a halt at the end of March, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic spreading around the world, but today comes news of a deal out of Europe that underscores where pockets of activity are still happening. Avira, a cybersecurity company based out of German…

Akamai CEO Touts Traffic Growth on its Platform, Warns of Increased Cybersecurity Risks (Media & Entertainment Services Alliance) Akamai saw global traffic on its platform grow 30% over the past month as Internet usage soared around the world amid the coronavirus crisis, according to Akama

Closing the cyber skills gap: Nine perspectives on Cyber 9/12 (Atlantic Council) On March 20-21, 2020, the Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative executed its first-ever virtual Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge.

Cybersecurity and Compliance Experts Approved as BuyBoard Vendor (Yahoo) CampusGuard, a full service cybersecurity and compliance services firm focused on the specific needs of education institutions, state and local governments, agencies, and healthcare providers has been awarded a competitively procured BuyBoard National Purchasing Cooperative agreement for Software Services

F5 Updates End-to-End App Security with Optimized AI and Broadened Portfolio (Integration Developer News) F5 is bringing AI and machine learning to the tricky job of balancing app performance with security and protection. F5’s latest app-centric security rollout now sports technology from recently acquired Shape Security.

F5 on the hunt for DevOps channel specialists (MicroscopeUK) Security player is keen to make sure it has the resellers signed up to support its recent acquisitions.

Cybersecurity Engineer Interview Questions: 4 Ways to Prepare (Dice Insights) Cybersecurity engineer interview questions can take many forms, but all serve a singular purpose: Allowing a potential employer to evaluate how well you

Bugcrowd Announces Record Growth, Secures $30 Million in Series D Funding (PR Newswire) Bugcrowd, the #1 crowdsourced security company, today announced record year-over-year growth, including 100% bookings growth in the North...

Accenture acquires cybersecurity startup Revolutionary Security (ZDNet) Revolutionary Security's portfolio includes services for risk assessment, breach and attack simulation testing, and designing and building security programs

Santa Barbara cybersecurity startup MixMode gets $4M in funding (Pacific Coast Business Times) Santa Barbara cybersecurity startup MixMode secured $4 million in Series A funding April 7, coinciding with the launch of its artificial intelligence-based platform for large enterprise data networ…

Estonia signs contract for development of NATO Cyber Range command platform (ERR) The Estonian Center for Defense Investment (ECDI) has concluded a framework agreement with Guardtime OÜ and GT Cyber Technologies OÜ, the object of which is to develop an automated command and development platform for the NATO Cyber Range over a period of four years.

UK's Spamhaus signs Rivium as first Aussie partner (CRN Australia) Tesserent subsidiary becomes exclusive Australian reseller.

Products, services, and solutions.

Heficed Introduces a Service to Combat IP Address Abuse (Heficed) Press release from Heficed: Cyber-Threat Ready: Heficed Introduces a Service to Combat IP Address Abuse.

IronNet Enhances Platform with Innovative Threat Landscape Visualization to Operationalize Collective Defense (IronNet Cybersecurity) New IronDome Detection Dashboard delivers unmatched real-time visibility, collaboration and knowledge sharing to drive cyber defense

Growing Cybercrime Sophistication Inspires New Security Strategies (PR Newswire) Coalfire, a provider of cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, today introduced its proprietary Threat Modeling and Attack Simulation...

iProov Brings Biometric Authentication to the Web Browser (BusinessWire) iProov, the world’s leading provider of biometric authentication technology, today announced the launch of iProov Web, bringing genuine presence assur

Tencent Taps HackerOne’s Global Community of White Hat to Boost Cybersecurity (HackerOne) Leading Internet Services Provider Invites Ethical Hackers to Join in their Bug Bounty Program

Click Armor launches gamified assessment that tests business phishing vulnerability (Help Net Security) "Can We Be Phished?" is a new, freely available gamified cybersecurity awareness training from Click Armor, the Continuous Cybersecurity Awareness Platform.

Enveil Delivers ZeroReveal Machine Learning for Secure Advanced Decisioning (Globe Newswire) Extending the company’s privacy-preserving offerings, ZeroReveal® ML expands the magnitude of enterprise machine learning capabilities through secure collaboration

PolySwarm's threat intel tool now integrated with leading SOAR platform, ThreatConnect (Business Insider) Now it's even easier for cyber threat analysts to tap into PolySwarm for file reputation and threa...

King & Union Awarded U.S. GSA IT Schedule 70 Contract (King & Union) King & Union today announced it has been awarded a five year U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) IT Schedule 70 contract to provide its Avalon Cyber Analysis Platform to U.S. public sector agencies.

BlackBerry Strengthens Automotive and Embedded Software Portfolio with QNX Black Channel Communications Technology (BlackBerry) New solution provides peace of mind within safety-critical systems

Payspan Employs Datadobi to Help Simplify Healthcare Payments (Datadobi) Healthcare’s leading provider of payment and reimbursement solutions migrates business-critical financial data with DobiMigrate – helps Payspan meet PCI and HIPAA compliance regulations mandates.

Dell unveils new PC security capabilities (CRN Australia) To help secure businesses during remote-work deployments

Dell releases new tool to detect BIOS attacks (ZDNet) Dell makes new tool named SafeBIOS Events & Indicators of Attack available for download for all Dell commercial PCs.

Palo Alto Networks Secures FedRAMP 'In Process' Milestone for Prisma Access (PR Newswire) Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, today announced that PrismaTM Access has achieved the designation of "In...

Edison Software Talks Email Cybersecurity (PYMNTS.com) Edison Software discusses the role of the email service in combatting the business email compromise scam, as well as its new email service OnMail.

Let's authenticate: Beyond Identity pitches app-wrapped certificate authority (Register) Enclave-bound service aims to be another nail in the password coffin

Congrats To The USAF and Wickr: This news could mean significant reduction in several key cyber risks for critical missions (CTOvision.com) I’ve know and used Wickr for quite a while. We use the pro version at OODA and strongly endorse it to all our OODA members (and even provide a discount to members wanting their own pro version here). We also use it whenever possible for business discussions external to the company. We have kicked the …

TransArmor Personal Data Protection from Fiserv tokenizes and encrypts personal data (Help Net Security) TransArmor Personal Data Protection from Fiserv, incorporating data security technology from Protegrity, helps businesses secure consumers’ personal data.

Social Distancing and Isolation—A Good Idea for You and Your Browser (Menlo Security) Just as physical isolation helps keep us virus free in the age of COVID-19, browser isolation does the same thing for your laptop or mobile device. As companies struggle to handle the sudden shift to a remote workforce, some are turning to cloud-based solutions to protect their users

How LoginRadius Can Help Retailers and E-commerce Industry to Manage Customer Identities (Security Boulevard) As the retail and e-commerce industry enters the new era of digitalization, customer experience while interacting with a brand has taken a giant leap forward. It has in fact, pushed products and services as a secondary entity to the overall shopping experience. They are no longer the driving motivation for shoppers to approach a store.

Appdome Joins Check Point Technology Partner Program, Introduces Appdome for SandBlast App Protect (PR Newswire) Appdome, the industry defining, no-code mobile integration and solutions platform, today announced that it has joined Check Point Software...

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Illusive Networks Integrates with Infoblox to Speed Deployment (PR Newswire) Illusive Networks, the leader in distributed deception-based cyber defense solutions, today announced an out-of-the-box integration with...

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AttackIQ Added to the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Approved Products List (BusinessWire) AttackIQⓇ, the leading independent vendor in the breach and attack simulation market, in conjunction with their GSA Schedule partner, RockITek, today

Box to Reduce Risk of Security Breaches and Cyber-Attacks With New Automated Malware Detection and Controls in Box Shield (MarTech Series) Box Sets New Standard for Mitigating Malware Attacks by Neutralizing Malicious Files

Facebook’s new Tuned chat app lets couples keep their mush private (Naked Security) If you’re OK with Facebook getting your phone number and storing your love notes, photos, shared daily diary and more, then Tune away, baes.

People.

Roger Hale Joins BigID as Chief Security Officer (Security Magazine) BigID, data-centric personal data privacy and protection company, announced the appointment of Roger Hale to Chief Security Officer. As CSO, Roger brings more than 35 years of information security experience spanning venture capital, cloud, data management and more.

Optiv Hires Deloitte Stalwart Kevin Lynch as Chief Executive Officer (BusinessWire) Optiv Security today announced that it has named Kevin Lynch as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective April 17, 2020.

Jaya Baloo, a recognized cybersecurity professional joins Nixu Corporation Board of Directors (News Powered by Cision) European cybersecurity company Nixu is pleased to...

Perspecta brings back former SAIC, HPE exec (Washington Technology) Perspecta hires two-decade market veteran and former SAIC and HPE executive Orlando Figueredo to help lead business development functions.

Incoming IBM CEO Arvind Krishna faces monumental challenges on multiple fronts (TechCrunch) Arvind Krishna is not the only CEO to step into a new job this week, but he is the only one charged with helping turn around one of the world’s most iconic companies. Adding to the degree of difficulty, he took the role in the midst of a global pandemic and economic crisis. No pressure [&hell…

ForgeRock Appoints New Chief Technology Officer (Globe Newswire) Globally recognized technologist Eve Maler will draw on 20 years of digital identity and security experience to help shape the company’s next stage of growth and innovation

AttackIQ Strengthens Leadership Team with New Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Director of Cybersecurity Strategy and Policy (BusinessWire) AttackIQⓇ, the leading independent vendor of breach and attack simulation solutions, today announced the appointments of Julie O'Brien as chief market

Claroty Deepens Leadership Bench With of Chief Financial and CPO (AiThority) Claroty, the global leader in industrial cybersecurity, announced the appointment of Udi Bar Sela as CFO and Grant Geyer as CPO.

Former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert Joins Beacon Global Strategies' Board of Advisors (Yahoo) Beacon Global Strategies (BGS) is pleased to announce that Mr. Thomas P. Bossert, who most recently served as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, has joined the firm's Board of Advisors.

GroupSense Names Adam Bregenzer Chief Technology Officer and Jeffrey Duran Chief Marketing Officer (PR Newswire) GroupSense, a digital risk protection company, today announced it has named Adam Bregenzer as chief technology officer and Jeffrey Duran as...

Cofense Announces Key Additions to Leadership Team Including Former Proofpoint Executive (PR Newswire) On the heels of one of the strongest quarters in company history, Cofense® , the global leader in intelligent phishing defense solutions, today...

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Claroty Deepens Leadership Bench with Appointment of Chief Financial and Chief Product Officers (PR Newswire) Claroty, the global leader in industrial cybersecurity, today announced the appointment of Udi Bar Sela as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and...

SecureSky Accelerates as it Expands its Board of Directors (The Norfolk Daily News ) SecureSky, a leader in cloud security and compliance solutions, announced that veteran executive William E. Fisher has joined the company's Board of Directors,

Secureworks appoints Baghdadi as Regional Sales Director (Trade Arabia) Secureworks, a leading global cybersecurity company that protects organisations in a digitally connected world, has appointed Nader Baghdadi as its new Middle East Regional Sales Director, focusing on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets.

Turturro Brings Space, Cyber Expertise to Parsons Talent Acquisition (PR Newswire) Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) announced today the addition of Dana Turturro as the company's senior vice president of talent acquisition....

The CyberWire Pro Business Briefing for 4.15.20