NSO troubles, thermal cameras, and layoffs.

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

NSO accused of involvement in clients' hacking operations.
NSO employee hacked a love interest.
Amazon buys temperature-monitoring thermal cameras from Chinese company.
Facebook restructuring and FireEye layoffs.

Mergers and acquisitions.

Boston-headquartered security visibility and analytics firm Rapid7 will acquire Virginia-based cloud security posture management company DivvyCloud for $145 million, SiliconANGLE reports. Rapid7 stated that "DivvyCloud has built a great product and vision around exactly what our customers want: the ability to accelerate innovation without the loss of control....Rapid7 will continue to build on the strong foundation DivvyCloud has created. Together, we look forward to accelerating our customers' efforts to securely migrate to the cloud and speed their ability to innovate."

New York-based technology services firm Orion Innovation has acquired New Jersey-headquartered technology and telecom solutions provider Tekmark Global Solutions. Orion stated that "[t]he acquisition of Tekmark brings 40 years of deep client relationships across a broad spectrum of industries with a heavy concentration in financial services and telecommunications. Tekmark adds over 850 experienced technology engineers deployed to Orion's US-based delivery team, bringing Orion's global strength to over 4000 associates."

London-based private equity firm Apax Partners has completed its acquisition of Colorado-headquartered risk assessment provider Coalfire from The Carlyle Group and The Chertoff Group for an undisclosed amount. A press release from The Chertoff Group explains that Coalfire's Federal unit will remain a wholly owned subsidiary: "Coalfire Federal will operate independently as a pure-play cybersecurity company under the continued leadership of Bill Malone, Coalfire Federal President, and continue to support its clients in enabling and protecting their critical missions. Among other focus areas, Coalfire will continue to provide services to help the United States Department of Defense suppliers prepare for and meet new CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) regulations."

Investments and exits.

Boston-headquartered red teaming company Randori has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Harmony Partners, with participation from existing investors Accomplice, .406 Ventures, and Legion Capital. Randori says it will "use the investment to expand its award-winning Attack Platform and bring a continuous red team experience to the mass market." Additionally, the company will "invest in expanding its engineering, go-to-market, and customer success teams."

Tel Aviv-based computing performance optimization company Granulate has secured $12 million in a Series A funding round led by led by Insight Partners, with participation from TLV Partners and Hetz Ventures. Granulate will use the funding "to expand globally, opening offices overseas," as well as expanding "all departments from sales and marketing to R&D."

India-based application security startup Indusface has raised $5 million in funding from Tata Capital Growth Fund II. Indusface will use the investment to "accelerate global customer acquisition and product innovation plans."

Executive moves.

Fortress Information Security has hired Tobias Whitney as Vice President of Energy Security Solutions. Whitney was previously a Technical Executive at EPRI, and prior to that, he served as Senior Manager of Critical Infrastructure Protection at NERC.

Axonius has added Anne DelSanto to its Board of Directors. DelSanto has held leadership roles at Salesforce, Oracle, and IBM, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Juniper Networks.

Coalfire Federal has promoted Bill Malone to President following Coalfire's acquisition by Apax Partners. Coalfire Federal is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coalfire, but "will now operate independently with its own executive leadership and Board of Directors."

AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson will retire on July 1st, CNBC reports. He'll be succeeded by the company's President and Chief Operating Officer, John Stankey.

InfoTrust has hired Justin Flower as general manager for its southern region, CRN reports. Flower previously worked for Sophos as director for enterprise sales ANZ.

AttackIQ has appointed Ross Brewer as a strategic advisor focusing on sales and marketing in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Brewer previously served as LogRhythm's vice president and managing director of EMEA.

Cybrella has added Moshe Ferber and Yoni Ramon to its Advisory Board. Ferber serves as Chairman of the Cloud Security Alliance's Israeli Chapter, while Ramon is Tesla's Red Team Manager, Staff Security Engineer, and Senior Information Security Engineer.

Security companies in the news.

In new court filings, WhatsApp has accused NSO Group of being "deeply involved" in hacking 1,400 WhatsApp users, including journalists and activists, the Guardian reports. A WhatsApp engineer testified that in 720 of the cases, the spyware contained the IP address of a server belonging to a company whose data centers were used by NSO. WhatsApp further claimed in its filing that "NSO used a network of computers to monitor and update Pegasus after it was implanted on users’ devices. These NSO-controlled computers served as the nerve centre through which NSO controlled its customers’ operation and use of Pegasus." NSO has maintained that it only sells its products to governments and that it doesn't have any visibility into who those governments are targeting.

In an unrelated incident, Motherboard reports that an NSO Group employee in 2016 abused the company's Pegasus hacking tool to target a love interest. The employee was providing support for a customer in the United Arab Emirates and broke into the customer's office outside of working hours to access the system. The intrusion was detected by the customer, and NSO fired the employee.

Amazon bought 1,500 thermal cameras from Dahua Technology, a Chinese company that's been blacklisted by the US government, Reuters reports. The purchase of nearly $10 million was legal since the US blacklist only applies to exports and US government contracts, although Reuters notes that the US Department of Commerce "considers that transactions of any nature with listed entities carry a 'red flag' and recommends that U.S. companies proceed with caution." At least five hundred of the cameras will be used to monitor the temperatures of Amazon employees in the US.

Unisys announced that it's signed a $140 million contract with "a major commercial defense contractor," as well as expanding an existing contract with California State University (CSU). The company also signed a new contract with a "large, global frozen-food company," bringing its Q1 2020 contract valuation to $200 million.

The New York Times reports that Facebook has been laying off cybersecurity employees in favor of automated systems. Former Facebook security employees told the Times that the company is hiring software engineers to build automated security systems that use artificial intelligence. A Facebook spokesperson told the Times, "To stay ahead of evolving security threats, we’re investing more in automated detection and bringing in new skills as we continue to grow our security team over all. This also means we are restructuring a portion of our team and helping the people affected by this change find other roles at Facebook." The Daily Caller notes that the employees who were replaced held highly specialized roles, so they may struggle to land another position at the company.

MarketWatch reports that FireEye plans to lay off around 6% of its workforce "to more closely align expenses to the company's projected revenue."

Marketplace.

Rapid7 acquires cybersecurity firm DivvyCloud for $145M (SiliconANGLE) Security operations firm Rapid7 Inc. today said it has agreed to acquire cybersecurity firm DivvyCloud Corp. for $145 million in cash and stock.

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Facebook’s Specialized Cyber Security Team Blows The Whistle, Says They’re Victims Of Automation (Daily Caller) Current and former Facebook employees who are responsible for heading off cyber attacks say the Silicon Valley giant is replacing them with machines.

Automation at Facebook making cybersecurity staff redundant: Report (ETCIO.com) Facebook has reportedly shaken up its cybersecurity team as it invests in automation to identify and address cyber breaches on its various platforms, ..

Facebook cuts back on cybersecurity team as it invests more in automation (Business Standard) The employees responsible for tackling hacking threats have alleged that the Silicon Valley giant is replacing them with machines and is automating its alert response and security teams

FireEye stock falls on outlook, company announces layoffs (MarketWatch) FireEye Inc. undefined shares slipped in the extended session Tuesday after the cybersecurity company said it was laying off staff and forecast an outlook...

BlackRock Unit to Increase Its Stake in U.S. Cybersecurity Company Cofense (Wall Street Journal) BlackRock is investing at least $10 million, in a deal expected to be announced later today, a person familiar with the matter said.

Exclusive: Amazon turns to Chinese firm on U.S. blacklist to meet thermal camera needs (Reuters) Amazon.com Inc has bought cameras to take temperatures of workers during the coronavirus pandemic from a firm the United States blacklisted over allegations it helped China detain and monitor the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Unisys Announces First-Quarter 2020 Contracts with New and Existing U.S. Clients Valued at $200 Million (Unisys) Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced a set of first-quarter 2020 contracts with new and existing clients valued at $200 million.

Hanover Study Finds Most Businesses Insured Against Traditional Cyber Insurance Risks - But Vulnerable to Emerging Risks (WFMZ.com) A new study commissioned by The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG) found the majority of business decision makers are insured against traditional

79% of Businesses Have Rejected a Job Candidate Based on Social Media Content; Job Seekers Should Post Online Carefully (PR Newswire) Most businesses have rejected a potential employee after looking at their social media profiles, according to a new survey from The Manifest, a...

The Strange Story of a Las Vegas Radio Station Co-Opted by China (Washington Free Beacon) At first glance, Las Vegas Public Radio (LVPR) looks like any other local FM radio station. It has local community sponsors, vaguely right-wing talk show hosts.

Ransomware-stricken Travelex up for sale (ComputerWeekly) Travelex’s parent Finablr is washing its hands of the ransomware-stricken forex provider as it struggles with the twin shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and a developing fraud scandal

Accenture buys tech companies in France, Germany and UK (Consultancy) Global consulting and technology giant has in the past month closed three acquisitions in Europe.

How Recorded Future Sees What's Ahead (The Cipher Brief) Recorded Future's CEO Christopher Ahlberg on what threats will look like in the future and how private companies can help provide protection.

We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck security firm ForgeRock used to raise $93 million as COVID-19 broke out (Business Insider) The firm's biggest clients include the BBC and BMW.

Series E Funding Marks a Momentous Day at ForgeRock (ForgeRock) We’ve reached an important milestone at ForgeRock that puts us another step closer to becoming the most important digital identity company in the market.

Chertoff Group Portfolio Company Coalfire Completes Sale to Apax Partners (Chertoff Group) Coalfire, a provider of cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, today announced that its acquisition by Apax Partners has been finalized with full regulatory approval

Mozilla Offers Bigger Rewards for Firefox Vulnerabilities (SecurityWeek) Mozilla has announced some changes to its Firefox bug bounty program, including bigger rewards and accepting duplicate submissions

Gemini Clears New Deloitte Audit in Bid to Appeal to Wall Street (Yahoo) Gemini’s exchange and custody services have cleared yet another systems design check.

How Ann Arbor’s Duo Security went from a two-man operation to a $2.35 billion company (mlive) Duo boasts almost 20,000 clients across the world and hopes to grow that number to more than 800,000 after being acquired by tech giant Cisco for $2.35 billion, Song said. Cisco sought Duo’s expertise in securely connecting its users in various networks.

Secret CSO: Sam Small, ZeroFOX (IDG Connect) Dr. Sam Small serves as the Chief Security Officer of ZeroFOX, helping its customers implement world-class social-media protection programs and supporting ZeroFOX in its role as the innovation leader of digital risk and social-media protection solutions.

Independence Bowl gets new sponsor and new title (WBRZ) The Shreveport, Louisiana-based Independence Bowl will be called the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, officials announced Tuesday.

Randori Announces $20M in Series A Funding, Expands Market's Vision for Continuous Red Teaming (PR Newswire) Randori, creators of the world's first automated attack platform, today announced a $20 million Series A funding round led by Harmony Partners,...

Cynet Issues Incident Response Challenge to IR Professionals (PRWeb) Incident Responders Challenged to Match Their Skills Against Colleagues in First of its Kind Contest with $5,000 Prize

Products, services, and solutions.

2020 Vision: Strategic Compliance and the Future of Business | A-LIGN (Transform your organization with strategic compliance to deliver new efficiencies and allow your team the time to focus on dynamic digital transformation efforts. ) Transform your organization with strategic compliance to deliver new efficiencies and allow your team the time to focus on dynamic digital transformation efforts.

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Identity Automation Releases Update for RapidIdentity IAM Platform (Identity Automation) Highlights Include Password Blacklist Screening, Scheduled Entitlements, & QR Code Branding

Grosvenor partners with Tempered Networks to release cloaking security technology (FM Media) Grosvenor Cyber Solutions (GCS) provides a cloaking security technology offered as a managed service provider. The service targets operational technology ecosystems owned by large corporate businesses, government organisations and property owners who are concerned about cyber risk and managing assets more securely.

Privva Introduces Continuous Risk Monitoring Partnerships with Argos Risk®, RiskRecon and SpyCloud (privva) New integrations adding visualizations of vendor security assessments, financial data and dark web monitoring enrich Privva’s third-party risk management platf

New Cygilant Solution Helps Detect Threats Residing Directly on Company Endpoints (Cygilant) Cygilant Endpoint Security Provides a Fast, Cost-Effective Way to Detect Malware and Critical Threats on Workstations and Servers

Cyren Redefines Corporate Email Security for Every Microsoft 365 Inbox (Yahoo) New cloud service provides continuous protection and remediation from sophisticated phishing threats that penetrate existing safeguards MCLEAN, VA / ACCESSWIRE / April 29, 2020 / Cyren (NASDAQ:CYRN)(FRA:TOU) ...

Appsian Enables Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication in Oracle PeopleSoft Applications (PR Newswire) Appsian, the global leader in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data security, has announced an integration with Duo Security, now part of...

NextgenID Presents Identity-as-a-Service, Minimizing Identity Enrollment Costs and Offering Long-term Savings (Globe Newswire) The frictionless procurement model features zero capital outlay for any and all identity credentials

Imperva Launches General Availability of Advanced Bot Protection Solution (BusinessWire) Imperva, Inc., the cybersecurity leader championing the fight to secure data and applications wherever they reside, today announced the general availa

Intel Provides Trusted Foundation for Azure Confidential Computing (Intel Newsroom) What’s New: Today, Microsoft Azure DCsv2-Series featuring a hardware-based trusted execution environment (TEE) built on Intel® Software Guard Extensions

Test Your ATT&CK Before the Attack With Guardicore Infection Monkey (Guardicore) The Monkey now maps its actions to the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base: It provides a new report with the utilized techniques and recommended mitigations, to help you simulate an APT attack on your network and mitigate real attack paths intelligently.

New Version of Guardicore Infectionmonkey Uses MITRE ATT&CK Techniques to Test Network Preparedness | Guardicore (Guardicore) The latest version of Guardicore Infection Monkey now maps its actions to the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base, providing a new report with the utilized techniques and recommended mitigations.

Bugcrowd Enables Companies to Increase the Speed, Scale and Quality of Pen Testing with Launch of Platform-Powered Classic Pen Test (Bugcrowd) Bugcrowd harnesses the power of the Crowd in a pay-per-test model enabling organizations to launch pen tests in less than 72 hours instead of waiting for up to

Snyk and Red Hat Collaborate To Enhance Security for OpenShift and Kubernetes Workloads (PR Newswire) Snyk, the leader in developer-first open source security, and Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source...

SYSGO integrates wolfSSL Security Technologies into its PikeOS Real-Time Operating System (SYSGO) SYSGO, the European leader in real-time operating systems (RTOS) and hypervisors for certifiable embedded systems, and wolfSSL, the leading provider of TLS and cryptography, have announced that they joined forces to integrate wolfSSL security technology into SYSGO's PikeOS real-time operating system (RTOS) that includes a type 1 hypervisor or Separation Kernel.

CIAM Certification: The Fastest Growing Professional Certification in Identity and Access Management Which Is the Most Critical Component of Cybersecurity (Yahoo) Certified Identity and Access Manager (CIAM) is a registered certification which is designed for global professionals who deal with identity and access management. Recognized as the Gold Standard certification for identity and access management (IAM), earning the CIAM designation increases one's

Privitar Data Privacy Platform is now available in AWS Marketplace (Help Net Security) Privitar, the leading data privacy platform provider, announced that the Privitar Data Privacy Platform is now available in AWS Marketplace.

Blue Prism Teams Up with SailPoint to Deliver New Governance and Security Capabilities (New Kerala) Looking to extend its industry leading security capabilities, Blue Prism AIM: PRSM today announced a partnership with SailPoint, a market leader in enterprise ide...

IronNet Cybersecurity enhances platform to combat threats through collective defense (SiliconANGLE) IronNet Cybersecurity enhances platform to combat threats through collective defense - SiliconANGLE

Investment Association unveils new platform to address cyber crime (Private Banker International) The Investment Association (IA) has launched a new intelligence platform to enable investment managers to combat cyber risks.

NTT and Tanium Announce Intent for Strategic Partnership to Deploy Security Solutions for the Smart World (BusinessWire) NTT Corporation (“NTT”) and Tanium Inc. (“Tanium”) announced their intention to enter into a strategic partnership.

RiskAnalytics’ browser extension helps keep data secure from anywhere during COVID-19 outbreak (RiskAnaytics) Coronavirus has quickly forced businesses to switch to remote work, leaving millions of devices vulnerable and causing an uptick in phishing campaigns. Thanks to ShadowNet, companies and remote workers finally have the tools they need to help keep their personal and professional data secure.

Announcing Snyk’s developer-first license compliance management (Snyk) We’re thrilled to announce Snyk’s developer-first license compliance management solution, designed to help you maintain a rapid development pace.

New AttackIQ Emulation Plan Empowers Enterprises to Assess Risks Against APT29 Cyberattacks (BusinessWire) AttackIQⓇ, the leading independent vendor of breach and attack simulation solutions, has released an emulation plan for enterprises to test the effect

HighSide Voice & Video Launches; Delivering a Remote Work Platform Designed for Private, Secure, Compliant Collaboration (PR Newswire) High-integrity security and collaboration leader HighSide, today launched HighSide Voice & Video to enable organizations to work remotely...

HID Global Collaborates with Fidesmo to Expand the Use of Wearables for Access Control and a Wide Range of New Applications (HID Global) HID Global, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions, today announced a collaboration with Fidesmo, a provisioning company that makes it possible to connect contactless services to wearables.

Ground Labs Introduces Free Data Discovery Solution, Enterprise Recon NOW (Yahoo) Ground Labs, the global expert in data discovery, today announced the availability of Enterprise Recon NOW, a free, limited standalone version of its industry-leading data discovery solution, Enterprise Recon. As companies transition to remote business models in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations

Malwarebytes Unveils New Privacy VPN Service (SecurityWeek) Malwarebytes launched a new VPN offering that features AES 256 encryption, WireGuard VPN protocol, no logging, and virtual servers in more than 30 different countries.

Cybereason Unveils New Mobile Device Security Offerings (SecurityWeek) EDR firm expands its cyber defense platform to include mobile defense, and introduces a new mobile managed detection and response offering. The intention is to bring visibility and security to all enterprise endpoints.

One Identity Partners with HashiCorp to Bolster DevOps Security (One Identity) Integration of One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Sessions with HashiCorp Vault to secure privileged credentials, sessions within DevOps environments Protects organizations’ critical secrets from security threats and enables them to meet co...

Qualys announces availability of all-in-one VMDR solution (Intelligent CIO Middle East) Qualys has announced the availability of its Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response solution.

KYND releases new Ransomware feature to help businesses reduce their risk of attack (News Anyway) KYND Limited, a provider of pioneering cyber risk management products, unveiled a new ransomware prevention feature that is now available to all KYND ON customers.

IDS Update (Bricata) A nextgen IDS solution should provide multi-threat detection capabilities, threat hunting, and easy deployment and management – does yours measure up?

CYSEC wins European Space Agency contract to protect ship tracking communications from cyber threats (Cysec Systems) CYSEC SA, a cybersecurity company from Switzerland has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a solution mitigating the cyber risks related to ship tracking using satellite communications.

vArmour and Digital Shadows Partnership Enables Actionable Defense with Threat Intelligence (Globe Newswire) Partnership combines Continuous Application Relationship Management and Threat Intelligence to enable Attack Chain Monitoring and Defense in Public Cloud

People.

Axonius Appoints Former Salesforce EVP and GM of Platform Anne DelSant (PRWeb) Axonius, the cybersecurity asset management company, today announced it has welcomed Anne DelSanto to its Board of Directors, its first female and independent boar

Security And Compliance Innovator, Tobias Whitney, Joins Fortress Information Security (Fortress Information Security) Security and compliance innovator Tobias Whitney joins Fortress to develop groundbreaking solutions for utilities, vendors and service providers

Veteran Tech Executive Gene Fay Named CEO at ThreatX (BusinessWire) Veteran Tech Executive Gene Fay Named CEO at ThreatX, the leading provider of SaaS-based web application and API protection (WAAP) solutions.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to step down, COO Stankey to take over (CNBC) The transition comes at a tough time for AT&T as it deals with a mass loss of TV subscribers and enters the crowded streaming video market.

Baker & Hostetler Hires Norton Rose Cyber Chief to Co-Lead New Data Economy Practice | The American Lawyer (The American Lawyer) Jeewon Kim Serrato in San Francisco is working with partners in Atlanta and Philadelphia to build the group, as the firm doubles down on its new data focus and aims to help more clients monetize data and IP.

Cybrella Announces New Advisory Board Members Company Announces the Appointment of Moshe Ferber and Yoni Ramon (AiThority) Mr. Ferber will help Cybrella’s management team identify innovative solutions and market opportunities, as well as promote strategic business partnerships.

Ross Brewer Joins AttackIQ as a Strategic Advisor Focused on EMEA (BusinessWire) AttackIQⓇ, the leading independent vendor of breach and attack simulation solutions, today announced the addition of Ross Brewer as strategic advisor

Infotrust expands Melbourne operation with new hire (CRN Australia) Justin Flower to help Melbourne push.

New infosec products of the week: April 24, 2020 (Help Net Security) The featured vendors this week include: Trustwave, Amazon Web Services, DefenseCode and Claroty.

Lewis Brisbois Nabs Privacy Pro From UK To Boost US Group (Law360) The head of the privacy and cybersecurity practice at U.K.-based law firm TLT LLP has made the jump back to the U.S. to join Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, where he'll continue to help a range of companies navigate constantly evolving cyberthreats and an emerging patchwork of global privacy laws.