Tesserent to acquire Loop Secure. Upstream raises $62 million in Series C round. Thoughts on the cybersecurity labor market.

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

Tesserent to acquire Loop Secure.
Upstream raises $62 million in Series C round.
Thoughts on the cybersecurity labor market.

Mergers and acquisitions.

Australian cybersecurity firm Tesserent will acquire Sydney-headquartered governance, risk, and compliance firm Loop Secure, ARN reports. Geoff Lord, Tesserent’s chairman, stated, "The addition of Loop Secure to the [Tesserent] group is a welcome one, cementing our position as the leading ASX-listed provider of cybersecurity solutions and services in A/NZ and as well as contributing to our annual turnover and adding significant recurring revenue to the Group."

Amsterdam-headquartered Elastic NV (formerly known as Elasticsearch) has acquired Tel Aviv- and California-based authorization policy management platform provider build.security. The company stated, "The addition of build.security extends Limitless XDR to enable the enforcement of security actions for cloud-native environments including hosts, virtual machines, and containers orchestrated by Kubernetes. By integrating the build.security technology into Elastic Security, customers will be able to continuously monitor and ensure that their cloud environments are secure in keeping with the policies they have in place, as well as continuously validate their security posture against well established standards such as the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks."

UK-headquartered data analytics consultancy Simpson Associates has acquired cybercrime prevention firm Bleam Cyber Security Limited (also based in the UK). The company stated, "Bleam Cyber Security will continue to operate as a separate division of Simpson Associates. Investment will be made through the development of additional cyber security propositions and the division will be launching a series of Managed Security Services, including Managed Detection and Response, that will complement the Managed Data Services that Simpson Associates already provides."

Sedulous Consulting Services has acquired program management and technical support consulting company Infinity Support Services. Both companies are based in Virginia. Omar Dennis, the founder, president, and CEO of Sedulous Consulting Services, stated "We're at the sweet spot of innovation and growth within the public sector, as more governments and companies seek out our help, especially in cybersecurity."

Australian managed IT services provider Nexon Asia Pacific has acquired Brisbane-based cybersecurity company Equate Technologies, CRN reports. Nexon Asia Pacific's CEO Barry Assaf stated, "Equate Technologies augments our offering and capability to deliver scalable, end-to-end proactive cyber security services as part of our comprehensive advisory and managed services. Our customers will now have a specialist security provider that satisfies all their cybersecurity needs and access to a proliferation of local expertise."

Investments and exits.

Israeli automotive cybersecurity company Upstream has raised $62 million in a Series C round led by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI), with participation from I.D.I. Insurance, 57 Stars' NextGen Mobility Fund, La Maison Partners, and existing investors Glilot Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Nationwide, Delek US. The company stated, "The new investment will boost Upstream's growth and reinforce its leadership in the connected vehicle cybersecurity market, while expanding its offering to current and future customers in the areas of data analytics, insurance telematics, predictive analytics, and business intelligence. In addition, the company will continue to invest in identifying, attracting, recruiting, and maintaining top talent."

Tel Aviv- and Boston-headquartered XDR provider Hunters has raised $30 million in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors YL Ventures, Blumberg Capital, M12, and U.S. Venture Partners (USVP). The company's CEO and co-founder Uri May stated, "The investment will be used to further drive innovation, enhance our customer satisfaction, increase our market reach, support partner expansion and hire exceptional talent."

Blockchain security firm CertiK has raised $24 million in a Series B+ round led by Tiger Global and GL Ventures. The company stated, "This funding round complements the launch of Skynet Premium and follows on the heels of the $37M Series B announced in July, which brought on Coatue Management, Shunwei Capital, and Coinbase Ventures."

Ann Arbor, Michigan-based cybersecurity monitoring and response company Blumira has raised $10.3 million in a Series A round led by Mercury, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures, M25, and Array Ventures. According to VentureBeat, the funding "will be used to grow the company’s security information and event management platform and double the size of its team to 80 employees within the next year."

BreachQuest has raised $4.4 million in a seed funding round led by Slow Ventures, Tinder founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, and Lookout founder Kevin Mahaffey. The company stated, "The funding will be used to accelerate the development and rollout of its innovative PRIORI platform."

Executive moves.

Consilient has appointed Shawn Holtzclaw as President. Holtzclaw previously served as Executive Director and CEO at The Knoble.

Splunk has hired Pamela Fusco as Chief Information Security Officer.

Pathwire has appointed Jesse Kinser as CISO. Kinser previously served as CISO at LifeOmic.

Databricks has hired Fermín Serna as Chief Security Officer. Serna most recently served as CISO at Citrix.

Armis has appointed Oscar Miranda as Chief Technology Officer for Healthcare.

SPHERE has appointed James Wilde as Global Head of Security Strategy. Wilde previously served as Director of Data Protection and Insider Risk at Forcepoint.

Constella Intelligence has hired Anthony Dumont as Chief Revenue Officer. Dumont most recently served as Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Ordr.

StorCentric has hired John P. Coughlan as Chief Financial Officer. Coughlan previously served as Chief Financial Officer at CoreBTS.

BlueVoyant has hired Paul Kleinschnitz as Chief Commercial Officer and Jason Thompson as Chief Marketing Officer. Kleinschnitz most recently served as Chief Sales Officer at Coalfire, while Thompson previously served as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer at IntSights.

Dashlane has appointed Dhiraj Kumar as Chief Marketing Officer.

PKWARE has hired Sandy Landrigan as Vice President of Integrations and Customer Solutions. Landrigan previously served as Senior Manager of Business Operations and Support at ControlScan.

Rhett Butler, Vice President of System Integrators and Partner Alliances at Iron Bow, has been appointed to the AFCEA DC board of directors for 2021-2022.

Companies in the news.

Momentum Cyber has released its Cybersecurity Market Review for H1 2021, finding that "[s]trategic activity in the first half of 2021 smashed all previous records and included 593 transactions completed totaling $51.0B in deal value across M&A (163 transactions, $39.5B) and Financing (430 transactions, $11.5B)."

Labor markets.

Team8's Nadav Zafrir and NightDragon's Dave DeWalt offered some thoughts on the cybersecurity labor market during an online media availability yesterday. Asked whether the much discussed talent gap in cybersecurity were real, DeWalt answered immediately that, “100% the talent gap exists.” He sees a kind of "poverty line" in the sector. Solid talent circulates through different roles at the top of different organizations, but the gap really becomes evident when you look at vulnerable organizations who can barely afford an IT person: they're unlikely to be able to afford a security person. "The talent is there, but matchmaking is a bit of a challenge," he said, and he thought that the gap tended to open between what formal education prepared students for and the actual cybersecurity roles organizations needed to fill. "There’s a gap between education and employment."

Zafrir agreed, and offered the example of Israeli national service as a possible approach to closing the gap. When Israel's Unit 8200 understood that it couldn’t rely only on universities for talent, it turned to mandatory service. "Every boy and girl out of high school must serve in the military." Unit 8200 sought to screen high school sophomores for aptitude to learn cyber rapidly. "And if you can spot that aptitude for quick learning and move it into a training program designed for them, you can do in six months what it would otherwise take you six years to achieve."

Marketplace

U.S. Government Hiring More Cybersecurity Pros: What You Should Know (Dice Insights) Want a cybersecurity job? The U.S. government is hiring. DHS and CISA have let the security community know recruits are welcome.

Intel Lands Pentagon Deal to Support Domestic Chip Making (WSJ) Intel said it would provide commercial foundry services as part of a broader program with the government agency that aims to build up domestic design and production of cutting-edge chips.

Cyber insurance market encounters ‘crisis moment’ as ransomware costs pile up - CyberScoop (CyberScoop) It’s a sure sign of trouble when leading insurance industry executives are worried about their own prices going up.

Tessian partners with Optiv Security as part of the company’s move to a 100% channel model (RealWire) SAN FRANCISCO - 24 Aug 2021 - Human Layer Security company Tessian today announces that it is moving to a 100% channel model, partnering with leading cybersecurity partners like Optiv Security to help enterprises secure the human layer and protect against threats caused by human error

Aryaka Recognized in First Global Provider Carrier Managed SD-WAN LEADERBOARD by Vertical Systems Group (BusinessWire) Aryaka Recognized in First Global Provider Carrier Managed SD-WAN LEADERBOARD by Vertical Systems Group

ReliaQuest Announces New Corporate Headquarters at Thousand & One (BusinessWire) ReliaQuest, the leader in Open XDR-as-a-Service, today announced a new corporate headquarters at Thousand & One in Tampa, Florida. The new headqua

Sequoia Makes Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies for Sixth Consecutive Year (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- Sequoia Holdings LLC has earned a spot on Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000 list of the country's fastest-growing private companies for the sixth year...

Demand for Telos cybersecurity tools offsetting federal contract delays (Washington Business Journal) Despite task order delays on two of its contracts, executives for the Ashburn-based cybersecurity company are sticking to their revenue guidance.

Armorblox Joins Internet2's Research and Education Community as Industry Member (StreetInsider.com) Membership furthers Armorblox's ability to collaborate with Internet2 members and meet the unique needs of the research and education community SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS...

Palantir Is an Enigma. The Opportunity in Its Stock Is Far More Clear. (Barron's) Palantir stock is a favorite of retail investors, but the company’s outside-the-box thinking makes some on Wall Street nervous.

IDC MarketScape: U.S. Managed Detection and Response Services 2021 Vendor Assessment (IDC) IDC examines consumer markets by devices, applications, networks, and services to provide complete solutions for succeeding in these expanding markets.

New Thinking: Britain’s ‘Largest’ Cybersecurity Accelerator Launches With Inclusivity In Its DNA (Forbes) Supported by government, Britain's largest cybersecurity accelerator aims to provide help to 160 businesses between now and April next year. One key element of its mission is to promote greater diversity among entrepreneurs coming into the sector. So, what does that mean in practice?

Georgia Cyber Center could add third building as jobs, companies seeing Augusta as destination (Augusta Chronicle) As campus matures, so does its mission and its ability to draw professional talent to the Augusta area

Cybersecurity jobs: This is what we're getting wrong when hiring – and here's how to fix it (ZDNet) From demanding qualifications that few people have to expecting years of experience in new disciplines, businesses are making mistakes when advertising jobs - and it's leaving IT security teams understaffed and exhausted.

“Working in the cybersecurity industry means you’re one of the good guys” (CTECH - www.calcalistech.com) Morphisec’s offering prevents the next cyberattack before it occurs, says VP of Product Netta Schmeidler, adding that like her, “more women are joining the industry, but it still isn’t enough”

MY TAKE: What NortonLifeLock’s $8 billion buyout of Avast portends for consumer security (The Last Watchdog) So NortonLifeLock has acquired Avast for more than $8 billion. This deal reads like to the epilogue to a book titled The First 20 Years of the Supremely Lucrative Antivirus Market. Way back in 1990, Symantec acquired Norton Utilities and made Norton the heart of its antivirus subscription offering. Related: The coming of ubiquitous passwordless […]

Trend Micro Maintains Cloud Leadership with 177% Sales Growth in AWS Marketplace (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, reports increased momentum as an Amazon Web Services (AWS)...

1Kosmos Continues Year of Growth and Introduces New Brand Identity (BusinessWire) 1Kosmos, the only cybersecurity solution to provide identity proofing and passwordless authentication, announces business growth and rebrand.

Detectify Teams up with Hackers for Change to Benefit Security and Ethical Hacking Communities, Bolster Security for Non-profit Organizations (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- Detectify, the SaaS security company powered by ethical hackers, today announced its partnership with Hackers for Change. The collaboration...

Blacks In Cybersecurity Makes History with Black Badge laden Capture The Flag Competition at DEF CON 29 (Black PR Wire) Blacks in Cybersecurity (BIC) has solidified its place in the Hacker community as they received a Black Badge designation for their CTF Contest.

Palantir Buys Gold Bars as Hedge Against ‘Black Swan Event’ (Bloomberg) Company spent $50.7 million on 100-ounce gold bars in August. Customers can now pay for software in Bitcoin, though none has.

Thycotic Named to Inc. 5000 for Ninth Consecutive Year (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- ThycoticCentrify, a leading provider of cloud identity security solutions formed by the merger of the privileged access management (PAM)...

NortonLifeLock goes ex-dividend tomorrow (NASDAQ:NLOK) (SeekingAlpha) NortonLifeLock (NASDAQ:NLOK) had declared $0.125/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous.Payable Sept. 15; for shareholders of record Aug. 23; ex-div Aug.

OK, so you stole $600m-plus from us, how about you be our Chief Security Advisor, Poly Network asks thief (The Register) Could it be a trap?

Products, Services, and Solutions

SNP Expands Portfolio with New SAP S/4HANA® Migration Solution for IBM Cloud (SNP) SNP Expands Portfolio with New S/4HANA® Migration Solution for IBM Cloud

Cowbell Cyber Delivers Industry’s First Distribution APIs For Instant Cyber Insurance Quoting and Policy Issuance (Cowbell Cyber) Cowbell Cyber, the industry’s first AI-powered cyber insurance provider for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), today announced the release of application programming interfaces (APIs) for streamlined digital distribution of cyber insurance.

Spyderbat Announces Full Suite of Attack Tracing and Intercept Product (PRWeb) AUSTIN, Texas (PRWEB) August 24, 2021 Spyderbat, Inc., a trailblazer in Attack Tracing and Intercept (ATI), announces three ATI product versions – Community Edition, Professional Edition, and Ent

Spyderbat Announces Defend The Flag Challenges (PRWeb) AUSTIN, Texas (PRWEB) August 24, 2021 Spyderbat Inc., a trailblazer in Attack Tracing and Intercept (ATI), announces Defend The Flag Challenges. Spyderbat aims to improve the skills of blue teams

HID Global Extends its HID IdenTrust Certificate Authority (CA) Offering to Include Timestamping-as-a-Service (HID Global) Binds Digital Certificates to Their Signing Date and Time

Sumo Logic Unveils Cloud SOAR Solution to Help Enterprises Modernize Their SOC (Sumo Logic) Sumo Logic Cloud SOAR Now Generally Available to Help Enterprises Modernize the SOC with Progressive Automation, Orchestration and Insightful Decision-Making

Centrilogic Introduces Expanded Cybersecurity and Managed Security Services Portfolio (GlobeNewswire News Room) Company Welcomes Security Industry Veteran Steven Cohen as Practice Lead...

Votiro Launches Solution that Allows Employees to Download Files from the Web without Risk or Hidden Threat (BusinessWire) Votiro releases a Secure File Gateway for Web Browser solution to sanitize files downloaded from Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

HYCU® Leads Public Service Initiative for Ransomware Recovery with R-Score (HYCU) R-Score is a public service to help organizations identify and measure their ability to effectively recover in the event of a ransomware attack.

Cameyo Introduces Secure Cloud Tunneling to Further Reduce the Attack Surface for Remote & Hybrid Work Without VPNs (Yahoo Finance) Cameyo, the company that provides simple and secure Virtual Application Delivery (VAD) for any Digital Workspace, today announced Secure Cloud Tunneling, a new technology that provides greater protection for organizations enabling remote & hybrid work by eliminating the need to open ports in their firewall - a practice that can increase exposure to hackers and ransomware. Cameyo's Secure Cloud Tunneling expands upon its native Zero Trust security architecture and continues Cameyo's tradition of

Fraud.net Named Top Performer in FeaturedCustomers' Summer 2021 Fraud Prevention Software Customer Success Report (WFMZ.com) NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fraud.net has been named a Top Performer in the Fraud Prevention Software category in the Summer 2021 Customer Success Report published by FeaturedCustomers.

Keyfactor Delivers Hybrid and Multi-Cloud PKI with New Cloud-Based Certificate Automation Service (Keyfactor) Keyfactor delivers hybrid and multi-cloud PKI with a new cloud-based certificate automation service. Learn more about it here.

BlackBerry Awarded AAA Rating in SE Labs' Breach Response Test (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today announced the results from SE Labs' Breach Response test on BlackBerry® Protect and BlackBerry®...

Telos Corporation Accelerates Growth at Major U.S. Airports (GlobeNewswire News Room) Cybersecurity leader’s aviation channeling service experiences consistent growth, with renewals at marquis customers...

Digital Guardian enhances endpoint DLP visibility and security controls to secure a hybrid work model (Help Net Security) Digital Guardian announced new enhancements to its endpoint DLP visibility and security controls specifically to secure a hybrid work model.

Identity management org SailPoint unveils no-code tool (VentureBeat) SailPoint adds no-code tool to make it easier for IT teams to manage workflows based on employee identities.

New infosec products of the week: August 20, 2021 (Help Net Security) The featured infosec products this week are from the following vendors: SailPoint, FORESEE, FireEye, Digital Guardian, and GrammaTech.

KnowBe4 Launches Resource Kit to Defend Against Mounting Cyber Attacks (BusinessWire) KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today launched a resource kit in recognition

Introducing Spamcheck: A data-driven, anti-abuse engine (GitLab) How we built, tested and deployed a new tool on GitLab that fights spam and abuse.

Blackpoint Cyber Announces New Integration with Cylance (BusinessWire) Blackpoint Cyber, founded by former US Department of Defense and Intelligence cybersecurity experts to provide real-time threat detection and response

Open Options Invests in Recertification Training Course to Ensure Long-Term Success with its Solutions (Open Options) Open Options Access Control Now Offers Self-Paced Recertification Course to Customers Addison, TX 8/18/2021– Open Options, a leading provider of innovative access control solutions, continues to place customers at the core of their operations with the release of the DNA Fusion recertification course. The self-paced class, which is part of Open Options ongoing commitment to […]

KnowBe4 Adds Six Languages to Its Platform and Launches Automated Security Awareness Program (ASAP) 2.0 (KnowBe4) KnowBe4 Adds Six Languages to Its Platform and Launches Automated Security Awareness Program (ASAP) 2.0

SUSE Linux Enterprise Earns Common Criteria EAL 4+, Proving Top Security for Mission-Critical Environments (SUSE) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2 is now EAL 4+ level certified for IBM Z, Arm and x86-64. SUSE is currently the only provider of a recent general-purpose Linux operating system with a secure software supply chain that is certified Common Criteria EAL 4+ for all these platform

Digital Guardian Expands Enterprise Data Protection Platform to Better Secure New Hybrid Workforce (Digital Guardian) Market shift to Work-From-Anywhere drives double-digit revenue growth and record new customer acquisition for Digital Guardian

Hyatt's Bug Bounty Program Update: Q&A with Senior Analyst Robert Lowery (HackerOne) Hyatt’s three-year-old bug bounty program has reached a significant milestone: $500,000 in bounties paid to hackers. As the first organization in the hospitality industry to embrace hacker-powered security, Hyatt’s milestone today demonstrates its long-term commitment to setting the highest standard for cybersecurity. We sat down with Robert Lowery, Senior Analyst at Hyatt, to learn more about the history of Hyatt’s bug bounty program and their most recent $500,000 milestone. Read on to see what Robert shared on how the knowledge of the global security researcher community helps Hyatt reduce risk, enable security improvements, and ultimately, deliver on their promise to care for employees, guests, and shareholders alike so they can be their best.

Keeper Security Named Best Overall Password Manager of 2021 By U.S. News & World Report's 360 Reviews (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- Keeper Security, developers of the world's top-rated zero-knowledge password management and encryption platform, has been recognized as the...

ACA Pacific nabs Comodo distie deal (CRN Australia) Becoming endpoint vendor’s first local distributor.

Druva Leads Industry with Best-in-Class Customer Support for its Cloud Platform (BusinessWire) Druva Inc., the leader in Cloud Data Protection and Management, today announced that it has been recognized as one of the highest-rated SaaS companies

Veracode Ranked as a Strong Performer in Forrester Wave™ Software Composition Analysis Report (Veracode) Veracode has been recognized in a report Forrester Research recently released, The Forrester Wave™: Software Composition Analysis, Q3 2021. The report helps security professionals select a software composition analysis (SCA) vendor that best fits their needs.

[Analyst Report] 2021 Forrester Wave: Software Composition Analysis (Synopsys) Synopsys has been named a leader in The Forrester WaveTM: Software Composition Analysis, Q3 2021, based on an evaluation of Black Duck, our software composition analysis (SCA) solution.

People

Consilient Appoints Shawn Holtzclaw as Company President (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Consilient announced it appointed Shawn Holtzclaw to serve as the company's president, effective immediately. Shawn Holtzclaw comes to...

Splunk Welcomes Pamela Fusco as Chief Information Security Officer (Splunk) Former U.S. Navy and Citibank Cybersecurity Veteran Joins Cloud Data Leader Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), provider of the Data-to-Everything Platform, today announced the appointment of Pamela Fusco as the company’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), effective immediately. With over 30 years

Iron Bow’s Rhett Butler Appointed to AFCEA DC Board of Directors (BusinessWire) Iron Bow Technologies, an IT solutions provider to government, commercial and healthcare markets, today announced Rhett Butler, Vice President of Syst

Oxfam Australia creates CDO role after data breach (iTnews) Exec will take charge of cyber security.

PKWARE Appoints Sandy Landrigan as Vice President of Integrations and Customer Solutions (PKWARE) PKWARE has named Sandy Landrigan VP of integrations and customer solutions responsible for enterprise customer integrations and expansions.

Armis Appoints Oscar Miranda as Chief Technology Officer for Healthcare (GlobeNewswire News Room) Armis continues rapid expansion in healthcare markets, making strategic hires and accelerating development in all regions...

BlueVoyant Hires Two High-Powered Industry Executives to Accelerate Hypergrowth (Yahoo Finance) BlueVoyant, a cybersecurity company, today announced two high-impact appointments to its executive team, who will lead the company's drive for aggressive growth. Paul 'PK' Kleinschnitz, most recently Chief Sales Officer at Coalfire, and Jason Thompson, previously CMO and COO at threat intelligence firm, IntSights, join the company as Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively.

Dashlane Names Dhiraj Kumar Chief Marketing Officer, Increasing Focus on Providing Secure Access for Businesses of All Sizes (Yahoo Finance) Dashlane today announced the appointment of Dhiraj Kumar as Chief Marketing Officer. Kumar brings 20+ years of marketing experience at iconic high growth technology brands, having previously served in leadership roles at PayPal, Facebook, and BlueVine. In this role, Kumar will lead Dashlane's end-to-end marketing efforts including Brand, Communication, and Growth & Partnership, to support the company's rapid growth as it transforms the security environment for consumers and businesses to match t

Forcepoint appoints new product chief (Washington Technology) Forcepoint brings in a two-decade cybersecurity industry veteran and former Symantec executive to the role of chief product officer.

Fermín Serna Joins Databricks as Chief Security Officer (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announced the appointment of longtime software executive and seasoned security chief, Fermín Serna,...

James Wilde Appointed as SPHERE's Global Head of Security Strategy (PR Newswire) /PRNewswire/ -- SPHERE, a woman-owned cybersecurity business focused on providing best-of-breed software and services for access governance across data,...