Investments, litigation, and innovation.

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

Forescout files lawsuit against Advent International.
Department of Energy appoints University of Texas, San Antonio to lead the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII).

Mergers and acquisitions.

Portland, Oregon-based archiving and compliance software provider Smarsh has acquired Santa Clara, California-headquartered cybersecurity compliance company Entreda for an undisclosed amount. Smarsh's CEO Brian Cramer stated, "With the acquisition, Smarsh can now offer our customers cutting-edge device, network and user level cybersecurity risk and compliance management capabilities." Entreda's CEO and co-founder Sid Yenamandra said, "Our transaction with Smarsh provides us with growth resources and investment capital to accelerate our product innovation, while reinforcing the capabilities that have enabled us to deliver an exceptional service experience to clients across the wealth management space. Our customers should be confident that it remains business as usual in how they interact and engage with Entreda and look forward to the many exciting product enhancements and new solutions that we can roll out, more expeditiously than ever, in partnership with Smarsh."

Investments and exits.

Mountain View, California-based data privacy API startup Skyflow emerged from stealth with a $7.5 million seed investment round led by Foundation Capital’s Ashu Garg, with participation from Jeff Immelt and Jonathan Bush. The company was founded last by former Salesforce executives Anshu Sharma and Prakash Khot. Sharma told Dark Reading that the company offers a sort of "database-as-a-service," allowing companies to securely store and access their customers' sensitive data through Skyflow's API.

San Francisco and New York-based data monitoring startup Toro has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Costanoa Ventures and Point72 Ventures, TechCrunch reports. The company has just four employees but plans to add some more data scientists this year. Toro's co-founder and CEO Kyle Kirwin told TechCrunch, "We’re building a monitoring platform that helps data teams find problems in their data content before that gets into dashboards and machine learning models and other places where problems in the data could cause a lot of damage."

Singapore-based next-generation networking and wireless technology company Ray has received a ₹2 crore (approximately US$265,000) investment from India-based antivirus vendor Quick Heal Technologies, the Hindu Business Line reports. Ray's founder and CEO Hemal Patel stated, "We are excited to have Quick Heal as our strategic investor. We would benefit from their vast experience of building a technology company focused on advanced security technologies and client-centric innovation culture. The funding shall help us accelerate our product innovations and increase our reach in multiple geographies." Quick Heal's CEO Kailash Katkar said, "Through our investment in Ray, we want to bring the best of Quick Heal’s security technology and capabilities to a wide range of customers and partners with highly secure networking and wireless technology. The team at Ray’s is building futuristic solutions keeping IoT and cloud computing technologies in mind which makes them an ideal partner."

Executive moves.

Skybox Security has appointed Charlie Velasquez as Chief Financial Officer. Velasquez has previously served as CFO for Arxan Technologies, CollabNet, AccelOps and Tidal Software.

WhiteHat Security has hired Tanya Gay as Vice President of Operations and Business Strategy and promoted Judy Sunblade to Vice President of Revenue Growth and Enablement. Gay was most recently Vice President of Global Sales Operations at Bromium, while Sunblade previously served as WhiteHat's Head of Global Revenue Enablement.

Kaspersky has hired Randall Richard as Head of Enterprise Sales for the United States. Richard previously served as a global sales manager for RSA.

Buchanan & Edwards has added Bill Weber to its board of directors. Weber was most recently president, CEO, and board member of KeyW Corporation.

DigiCert has named Jason Sabin as its Chief Technology Officer. Sabin has been with DigiCert for eight years, and most recently served as the company's Chief Information Officer.

Security companies in the news.

Forescout Technologies has filed a lawsuit in Delaware against private equity firm Advent International after Advent backed off from its planned $1.9 billion acquisition of Forescout, Law360 reports. Forescout said in its press release that "Advent’s purported excuse for its wrongful conduct is that a closing condition to the transaction has not been satisfied because a “material adverse effect” has occurred at Forescout. Forescout believes that no material adverse effect has occurred, that all closing conditions are satisfied, and that Advent is obligated to close the transaction. Forescout believes that Advent has relied on meritless excuses to support its position."

Forbes quotes an Advent spokesperson as saying the firm decided to back out of the deal "after an extensive analysis that included information provided by Forescout, the company’s first quarter 2020 financial results and a detailed forecasting exercise to better understand future performance. Advent’s analysis, which was shared with Forescout, established that the company has experienced a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition and operational results. In addition, there has been a disproportionate effect on the company’s business relative to its direct peers, most of which have reported strong financial performance in the current environment. Advent has informed Forescout of its belief that the company will lack the ability to meet its financial obligations as they become due based on its expected post-closing financial condition. Further, we believe the company has failed to operate in the ordinary course in several material respects since the signing of the Merger Agreement."

And security innovation.

The US Department of Energy has appointed the University of Texas at San Antonio to lead the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII), Daily Energy Insider reports. CyManII will work with private and public sector organizations around the country to help manufacturers and suppliers "understand current and emerging cyber-vulnerabilities along connected processes, integrate new IOTT components with a secure common architecture, and train their workforce on good cyber practices."

Marketplace.

Army Seeks Nontraditional Contractors to Support Cyber Training Tech Development Project (ExecutiveBiz) The U.S. Army is inviting nontraditional defense contractors to participate in a project that aims to integrate new tools into the military service's Persistent Cyber Training Environment. The branch indicated its intent to use an other transaction agreement to address the requirement as part of

Cybersecurity-Focused VC Cyberstarts Raises $100 Million Fund (CTECH) The firm also appointed Lior Simon, formerly an associate at Sequoia Capital and head of the Israel operation of Arbor Ventures, as partner

Exabeam Invests for Growth Across Asia Pacific and Japan to Meet Increasing Demand for Smarter SIEM (BusinessWire) Exabeam, the Smarter SIEM™ company, announced a significant investment in its operations across the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region.

New members and territories join fight against digital violence (Coalition Against Stalkerware) Worldwide lockdowns reconfirm the need for strengthened international working group to domestic violence and stalkerware

Quick Heal invests in Singapore-based Ray for cyber security solutions (Hndu BusinessLine) Quick Heal Technologies, a cybersecurity and data protection solutions provider, today announced a strategic investment of ₹2 crore in Ray Pte. Ltd., a Singapore based start-up specializing in next-g

Investment in U.S. could open opportunities for TSMC: analyst (Focus Taiwan) Taipei, May 24 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's biggest contract chipmaker, which recently unveiled plans to build a plant in Arizona, the United States, is expected to secure opportunities for cooperation in developing key technologies with the U.S. and China, an industry analyst said Sunday.

Huawei’s Nightmare Week Is About To Get Much Worse (Forbes) Huawei looks set to face an immediate reality check as the consequences of America's latest attack hit home.

Former Salesforce Execs Launch Data Protection Startup (Dark Reading) Cloud-based API service stores and manages sensitive consumer data with a zero-trust, database-as-a service approach.

StarHub chief quashes talk of merger with M1 (The Straits Times) Mainboard-listed StarHub's chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulos rebuffed speculation of a possible merger between the telco and its 5G bid partner M1 at its virtual annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday.. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Investigation launched into Willis and Aon merger (Captive Insurance Times) Bragar Eagel & Squire (BES), a US stockholder rights law firm, has launched an investigation into whether the board members of Willis Towers Watson breached fiduciary duties or violated the federal securities laws in connection with the company’s proposed merger with Aon.

Nixu Adds English as its Official Language to Serve Capital Market and Stakeholders Better (Cision) Nixu, the European cybersecurity services company listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange, has become strongly an international company in recent years.

Joe Rogan helped create a podcast culture on YouTube, and now he’s leaving it (The Verge) Joe Rogan’s departure from YouTube brings big questions about YouTube to the plate.

Palo Alto Networks shines in Q3 amid remote work spurs security demand (ZDNet) For the fourth quarter, Palo Alto Networks projected non-GAAP earnings of $1.37 a share to $1.40 a share on revenue $915 million to $925 million. Analysts were looking for non-GAAP earnings of $1.31 a share on revenue of $916.8 million.

Smarsh Acquires Entreda, Leader in Cybersecurity Risk and Compliance Software for Wealth Management Industry (Smarsh) Smarsh Acquires Entreda, Leader in Cybersecurity Risk and Compliance Software for Wealth Management Industry

IBM Announces First Job Cuts Under New Chief Executive (Wall Street Journal) An unspecified number of layoffs come as a major economic slowdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic causes many customers to dial back investments.

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For Cyber Companies, There Is no Place Like Israel, Says Imperva CEO (CTECH) Pam Murphy was appointed CEO of Israeli information security company Imperva in January, replacing Chris Hylen, who stepped down following a severe security breach

Checkmarx to Lay Off Dozens of Workers, Proving Even Unicorns Aren’t Immune to Covid-19 (CTECH) A month after completing a $1.15 billion exit, the Israeli-based cybersecurity company is “restructuring”

Deep Instinct Vies With McAfee And CrowdStrike For $17B Market (Forbes) CrowdStrike faces a formidable challenger in Manhattan-based Deep Instinct. Which can save companies the most money by fending off cyberattacks before they happen?

Products, services, and solutions.

EclecticIQ Joins Forces with Endpoint Solution Provider PolyLogyx (BusinessWire) EclecticIQ, the global provider of cyber threat intelligence (CTI) technology solutions and Fusion Center, is joining forces with PolyLogyx, a creator

Akamai launches a new in-browser threat detection solution that uncovers compromised scripts (Help Net Security) Akamai announced the launch of Page Integrity Manager, an in-browser threat detection solution designed to uncover compromised scripts.

Samsung Unveils New Security Chip for Mobile Devices (SecurityWeek) Samsung has unveiled a new security solution for mobile devices that includes an SE chip and enhanced security software

Lowell Service Center Gives Credit Where Credit Is Due – Attributes Flawlessly Executed Data Migration to Datadobi (Datadobi) DobiMigrate seamlessly moved warm archive data to new IaaS data center, while ensuring all contextual and relational information remained intact and not changed in any way.

Netwrix simplifies fulfilling data subject access requests (Netwrix) With the newest version of Netwrix Data Classification, organizations can easily respond to individuals’ requests concerning their personal data, within the required timeframe.

FireEye introduces new endpoint security framework for rapid feature deployment (TahawulTech) FireEye has introduced a new Innovation Architecture behind FireEye Endpoint Security, which includes modules for protection, investigation and response.

Trend Micro launches 'worry-free' security platform as partners battle COVID-19 effects (CRN) Trend Micro opens up on the biggest cybersecurity challenges facing the channel in 2020

Thycotic launches DevOps Secrets Vault solution for greater cloud security (Security Brief) “DevOps Secrets Vault is a cloud-based vault that balances the security and velocity that DevOps teams require for this growing part of the enterprise attack surface.

Social Media Platform 2cents Dedicated to Protecting Privacy (PR Newswire) 2cents, a micro blogging platform, offers a responsible approach to social media by not abusing the privacy of its customers. 2cents believes...

Introducing Feedly for Cybersecurity (Feedly) 150,000 cybersecurity professionals use Feedly to keep up with the latest security news and research insights about critical threats (vulnerabilities, malware, data breaches, threat actor groups, etc.)

Free ImmuniWeb Tool Allows Organizations to Check Dark Web Exposure (SecurityWeek) Web security company ImmuniWeb this week announced a free tool that allows businesses and government organizations to check their dark web exposure

Cybereason and Wandera Partner to Empower Customers in Detecting Cross (PRWeb) Cybereason, a leader in endpoint protection, and Wandera, a leader in mobile threat defense and zero trust network access, today announced a partnership that will prov

NGRAVE’s Crypto Hardware Wallet Earns World’s Top Security Standard (Medium) With EAL-7 certification, the NGRAVE ZERO is the blockchain industry’s most secure wallet and the top choice for security-conscious crypto…

Bitdefender signs distie deal with Bluechip Infotech (CRN Australia) Replaces previously announced distie arrangement.

Akamai To Help Combat Credit Card Skimming, Sophisticated Magecart-Style Attacks With Page Integrity Manager (Akamai) Akamai today announced the launch of Page Integrity Manager, an in-browser threat detection solution designed to uncover compromised scripts that could be used to steal user data or impact the user experience

Sixgill Integrity 2.0 Makes Blockchain Data Integrity Easy and Practical for Enterprise (BusinessWire) Sixgill, LLC, a leader in data automation and authenticity products and services, announced the release of Integrity 2.0, a powerful data authenticity

Appdome Joins Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (Markets Insider) Appdome, a no-code mobile integration and solutions platform, today announced that it has joined the M...

Meet NordSec: The company behind NordVPN wants to be your one-stop privacy suite (ZDNet) In an exclusive interview with ZDNet, NordVPN co-founder Tomas Okman shares his five-year plan to make his business synonymous with digital privacy and cyber-security.

FireEye enables orgs to respond to security incidents faster with flexible and customizable modules (Help Net Security) FireEye, the intelligence-led security company, introduced a new Innovation Architecture behind FireEye Endpoint Security.

CrowdStrike Falcon bolsters Linux protection with ML prevention, custom and dynamic IoAs (Help Net Security) CrowdStrike Falcon platform is bolstering its Linux protection capabilities with additional features, including ML prevention, custom IoAs and dynamic IoAs.

RedSeal Helps Healthcare Organizations Reduce Cyber Risk (GlobeNewswire) MedTech Breakthrough Awards selects RedSeal as best overall healthcare cybersecurity solution

Thycotic DevOps Secrets Vault Now Provides Just-in-Time Access to Cloud Platforms with Dynamic Secrets (Thycotic) Thycotic, provider of privileged access management (PAM) solutions to more than 10,000 organizations, including 25 of the

Sixgill's new Darkfeed automated threat intelligence now available in the Anomali APP Store (Help Net Security) Sixgill announced that its new Darkfeed automated threat intelligence is available in the Anomali Preferred Partner (APP) Store.

ESET signs distribution partnership with Credence Security for southern Africa (ITP) Credence to offer ensure suite of ESET security products, including two-factor authentication, encryption, and endpoint protection

Jamf Adds macOS Malware Prevention and Unified Log Forwarding to Help Organizations Keep Users, Devices and Company Data Secure (Jamf) In the current environment, more organizations are examining their remote employee and work-from-home policies. With employees using their computers at home, new security risks emerge.

Latest Update to StackRox Kubernetes Security Platform Augments Runtime Security with Streamlined Analysis and Incident Response (StackRox: Kubernetes and container security solution) New capabilities developed in collaboration with enterprises and federal government customers enable accurate analysis and faster incident response for containers and Kubernetes environments

AttackIQ Simulations Now Available in Microsoft Defender ATP Evaluation Lab (BusinessWire) AttackIQ announces the availability of its simulations in the Microsoft Defender ATP evaluation lab.

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Cellebrite Rebrands Digital Intelligence Solutions Suite (Inside NoVa) Cellebrite, the global leader in Digital Intelligence (DI) solutions for public and private sectors, today announced it has rebranded the industry's most

Your data is *your* data: Our approach to creating privacy-conscious antivirus software (Security Boulevard) Emsisoft is a privacy-conscious antivirus company. We’ve developed our software to provide excellent malware protection without infringing on your privacy. The post Your data is *your* data: Our approach to creating privacy-conscious antivirus software appeared first on Emsisoft | Security Blog.

People.

WhiteHat Security Expands Its Executive Leadership Team (BusinessWire) WhiteHat Security today announced the appointment of Tanya Gay and the promotion of Judy Sunblade.

Kaspersky Snags RSA Leader To Drive Threat Intelligence Sales (CRN) Kaspersky has hired RSA sales leader Randall Richard to grow the company’s threat intelligence business and revolutionize its approach to the channel in the enterprise.

Top 25 Cyber Execs to Watch in 2020: Northrop Grumman's Jennifer Walsmith (WashingtonExec) Transitioning from nearly 30 years in the intelligence community to private industry, Jennifer Walsmith brings to Northrop Grumman Corp. an expert ability

Top 25 Cyber Execs to Watch in 2020: CACI's Kevin McNeill (WashingtonExec) Following CACI’s acquisition of LGS Innovations last year, Kevin McNeill helped lead the successful integration of LGS’ cyber research and development

RunSafe Security Appoints Veteran Security Experts to Technical Advisory Board (Yahoo) RunSafe Security, a pioneer of a patented process to immunize software from cyber attacks without developer friction, today announced the launch of its new technical advisory board comprised of top security experts from both industry and academia. The board will inform RunSafe on broader trends in the

Buchanan & Edwards Board of Directors Welcomes New Member, Bill Weber (PRWeb) Buchanan & Edwards Inc., an award-winning and fast-growing technology leader delivering transformative solutions for the national security community, announced tod

DigiCert Names Jason Sabin as CTO (Security Boulevard) Sabin brings decades of experience creating best-in-class technology, as well as a passion for engineering and innovation. LEHI, UT (May 19, 2020) —

Top 25 Cyber Execs to Watch in 2020: Splunk's Juliana Vida (WashingtonExec) In the spring of 2019, Juliana Vida became Splunk's first-ever chief technical adviser, a position created to leverage her extensive military and