More Signal. Less Noise.

V5 | Issue 39 | 9.27.23

Cisco to acquire Splunk for $28 billion. Cato Networks secures $238 million. Ransomware increasingly cited in cyber insurance claims.

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Summary

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

Cisco to acquire Splunk for $28 billion.
Cato Networks secures $238 million.
Ransomware increasingly cited in cyber insurance claims.

Mergers and acquisitions.

Cisco is acquiring Splunk for approximately $28 billion. The companies stated, "Upon close of the acquisition, Splunk President and CEO Gary Steele will join Cisco's Executive Leadership Team reporting to Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins. The acquisition builds on Splunk's heritage of helping organizations enhance their digital resilience and will accelerate Cisco's strategy to securely connect everything to make anything possible. The combination of these two established leaders in AI, security, and observability will help make organizations more secure and resilient."

Calcalist reports that Palo Alto Networks is in advanced negotiations to acquire Israeli secure enterprise browser provider Talon Cyber Security for $600 million.

Arlington Capital Partners has agreed to acquire secure business collaboration provider Exostar from Thoma Bravo for an undisclosed amount. Arlington Capital stated, "This transaction will position Exostar to continue building on the significant growth and transformation realized under Thoma Bravo's ownership, and achieve accelerated long-term success by driving product development and expanded services for customers."

Seattle-based unified cybersecurity platform provider WatchGuard has acquired Massachusetts-headquartered cloud and network threat detection and response firm CyGlass Technology Services. WatchGuard stated, "The immediate focus of the combined company is on supporting current CyGlass customers and partners with existing CyGlass solutions and integrating the CyGlass technology into the WatchGuard platform."

UK-headquartered identity and access management firm ProofID has acquired Texas-based identity governance and administration integrator Regatta Solutions Group. The company says, "The acquisition unites the competencies of both organisations as leading integrators of Ping Identity and SailPoint solutions respectively - whilst positioning the company as a provider of enterprise identity solutions and global identity managed services."

Investments and exits.

Israeli SASE provider Cato Networks has raised $238 million in a financing round led by LightSpeed Venture Partners, with participation from Adams Street Partners, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Sixty Degree Capital, and Singtel Innov8. The funding brings the company's valuation to more than $3 billion. Cato says it "will use the new funds to scale its organization in three key areas: delivering Cato’s vision and customer success to a broader audience, expanding the partner ecosystem offering managed Cato SASE services, and growing the engineering and product team in charge of our high-velocity train of innovative capabilities."

Israeli zero-instrumentation production intelligence startup Senser has emerged from stealth with $9.5 million in seed funding from Eclipse, with participation by Amdocs and other private investors.

Executive moves.

Dashlane has hired João Luis as VP of Engineering, Jeff Cozzaglio as VP of Sales, Rachael Stockton as VP of Product Marketing, and Tara Haas as Chief of Staff.

Bishop Fox has promoted Christie Terrill to Chief Information Security Officer and appointed Aaron Symanski as Chief Technology Officer.

Delinea has appointed David Koenig as Chief Information Officer.

Cybereason has named Manish Narula as Chief Financial Officer and Gregory Puff as General Counsel.

SonicWall has appointed Christine Bartlett as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

Sonatype has hired Megan Lueders as Chief Marketing Officer.

Illumio has retained John Kindervag as Chief Evangelist.

Balance Theory has added Optiv co-founder Dan Burns to its board of directors.

Ransomware increasingly cited in cyber insurance claims.

Coalition has published a report looking at cyber trends in the first half of 2023, finding that there was “a 12% increase in cyber claims over the first six months of the year, driven by the notable spikes in ransomware and funds transfer fraud (FTF).” The researchers note, “Companies with over $100 million in revenue saw the largest increase (20%) in the number of claims as well as more substantial losses from attacks - with a 72% increase in claims severity from 2H 2022.” The report adds that the average ransom demand in the first half of 2023 was $1.62 million, a 74% increase compared to 2022.

Fortunes of commerce.

Zero-trust security firm Xage Security has secured a $17 million five-year contract with US Space Force to protect Space Systems Command networks, SpaceNews reports.

CrowdStrike has "announced the launch of an equity free Amazon Web Services (AWS) & CrowdStrike Cybersecurity Startup Accelerator for EMEA-based startups." The company stated, "Created to foster and fuel cybersecurity’s next market-defining disruptors, the new AWS & CrowdStrike Cybersecurity Startup Accelerator cohort, will offer customized mentorship, technical expertise, and partnership opportunities, as part of AWS Startup Loft Accelerator (SLA) program. High-potential early-stage cybersecurity companies could also get funding from CrowdStrike’s strategic investment vehicle, the CrowdStrike Falcon Fund. Applications for the AWS & CrowdStrike Cybersecurity Accelerator is open from September 27 – October 31, 2023. To apply, visit this website. "

Selected Reading

Marketplace

China’s Business Environment Is Deteriorating, U.S. Companies Say (Wall Street Journal) More than one-third of companies surveyed say they have reduced or paused Chinese investment in the past year.

Corero Announces Partner-First Go-to-Market Strategy (Corero) Corero Network Security (LON: CNS), the specialists in distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection solutions, today unveiled its “partner-first” go-to-market strategy and enhanced partner program. Effective October 1, all new Corero business globally will be sold in collaboration with its channel partners.

CrowdStrike Launches Startup Accelerator with AWS (CrowdStrike) CrowdStrike is launching a startup accelerator with AWS to support the next generation of cloud-native cybersecurity companies. Learn more.

Quorum Cyber Dramatically Rises on MSSP Alert’s List of Top 250 MSSP Providers (Quorum Cyber) Ranked #59 on MSSP Alert’s list of Top 250 MSSP Providers and one of only four UK-headquartered companies to appear in the Top 60.

How a $2.4 trillion corporation fails so badly, so often (Cybernews) After exposing some US government emails to Chinese threat actors, Microsoft then leaked internal emails by its own top-level executives for anyone to scavenge. It’s left us wondering why the second-largest corporation on Earth fails so badly and so often.

Veridas Joins Security Industry Association (SIA) to Drive Continued Collaboration within Security Industry (Veridas) Veridas Joins Security Industry Association (SIA) to Drive Continued Collaboration within Security Industry Veridas looks to serve as a valuable resource for SIA members seeking to understand and implement biometric technologies Veridas, a technology company specializing in digital identity and biometrics, today announces its new membership in the Security Industry Association (SIA), a leading trade […]

Air Force cancels $5.3B cyber contract after overwhelming response (Washington Technology) With more than 250 proposals received, the Air Force said that was too many for a manageable evaluation process.

“Cisco and SentinelOne never engaged in due diligence concerning a potential acquisition” (CTech) SentinelOne says “Cisco and SentinelOne never engaged in due diligence concerning a potential acquisition. Nor did SentinelOne otherwise disclose confidential financial information to Cisco” - contrary to what was reported in Calcalist and CTech. According to SentinelOne, the notion that such diligence or disclosures “revealed problems with the company’s revenue reporting” is thus likewise false.

The Problem With Today's Cybersecurity Job Descriptions (N2K Networks) Could your cybersecurity job descriptions use an update? Here are six (and a half) common mistakes companies make on cyber JDs and five ways to fix them.

CISA Publishes New Cybersecurity Career Awareness Challenges (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) Individuals interested in cybersecurity can interactively explore a career pathway

Wanted: another 3mn cyber professionals (Financial Times) Ever greater demand for security staff is increasing wage inflation and skills gaps

Most organizations want security vendor consolidation (Security Intelligence) In the face of rising operational complexity paired with cyber risks, 75% of organizations want to consolidate their cybersecurity vendors.

Cisco’s Splunk Deal Shows Allure of AI in Cybersecurity (Wall Street Journal) The $28 billion acquisition of Splunk by Cisco Systems could create a titan among cybersecurity providers, but such deals can be a mixed blessing for cyber chiefs, experts say.

NATO seeks cyber threat intelligence solutions (Intelligence Community News) On September 21, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) issued a market survey for cyber threat intelligence. Responses are due by October 16 at 5:00 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST).

Products, Services, and Solutions

Delinea Secret Server Introduces MFA Enforcement at Depth to Meet New Cyber Insurance Requirements (PR Newswire) Delinea, a leading provider of solutions that seamlessly extend Privileged Access Management (PAM), today announced an update to Secret Server,...

Titania Nipper Release Simplifies Federal Agencies’ Ability to Prioritize and Remediate NIST SP 800-53 Non-Compliances (EIN Presswire) Titania’s software solution equips agencies with a critical capability lacking in more than 80 percent of federal government organizations

Radware Defends World Leading Data Center Provider and Operator from Volumetric DDoS Attacks (Yahoo Finance) Diverts large volumes of web traffic and reduces time to protectionMAHWAH, N.J., Sept. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radware® (NASDAQ: RDWR), a leading provider of cyber security and application delivery solutions, announced it is providing DDoS protection for one of the top 20 leading data center providers and operators in the world. As part of a million-dollar agreement, the industry leader selected Radware’s Cloud DDoS Protection Service to mitigate and prevent volumetric assaults. In the face

Zyxel announces WiFi 6-enabled security firewalls for small- and medium-sized business networks (Help Net Security) Zyxel Networks adds WiFi 6 to USG FLEX firewall series to improve security and protection for small- and medium-sized business networks.

EPS Releases New Switch Erasure Update with Power Automation (Extreme Protocol Solutions) Extreme Protocol Solutions (EPS), leading-edge developer of Enterprise Data Erasure software, announced today that their flagship erasure software, XErase will now include an update that controls programmable power supplies enabling up to 24 switches to be erased simultaneously and completely automating the process for all modern switches.

Axiad's Certificate-Based Authentication for IAM Now Available in AWS Marketplace (PR Newswire) Axiad, a leading provider of organization-wide passwordless orchestration, today announced its Certificate-Based Authentication (CBA) for...

Deep Insight Results: 2023 MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations for Enterprise (Deep Instinct) The results are in! In this blog post we’ll outline the results of the 2023 MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations for Enterprise and cover the following: What the ATT&CK Evaluations are and what it means for enterprises; The tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) employed by Turla to perform an attack; How Deep Instinct’s platform prevents Turla attacks and protects your organization.

Leading Financial Institution Chooses SSH’s PrivX for Operational Efficiency and Cybersecurity | GlobeNewswire by notified (Kommunikasjon) A leading global financial institution has selected PrivX as its privileged access management (PAM) solution. The customer is one of the largest and most important financial institutions in the world. This is third major new significant lighthouse customer for PrivX in the USA.

Keysight and Synopsys Partner for IoT Device Cybersecurity (Business Wire) Synopsys Defensics® fuzz testing software embedded into Keysight’s IoT Security Assessment solution

Jumio Named a Representative Vendor in Fifth Consecutive Gartner® Market Guide for Identity Verification (Business Wire) The Market Guide discusses growing concerns about AI-enabled attacks using deepfakes, offers comprehensive market recommendations for security and risk management leaders responsible for identity and access management and fraud detection

Palo Alto Networks Recognized as a Leader in Zero Trust Platform Providers (Palo Alto Networks) "Palo Alto Networks' Zero Trust Framework encapsulates the need to enable and protect a hybrid workforce."

Contrast Security Integrates with AWS Security Hub to Empower Organizations to Effectively Manage and Mitigate Security Risks (Contrast Security) The integration of Contrast Assess with AWS Security Hub offers a comprehensive, proactive security management approach.

BlueVoyant Expands Offerings to Establish the Only Comprehensive Third-Party Cyber Risk Management Solution (PR Newswire) BlueVoyant, a cybersecurity company that illuminates, validates, and remediates internal and external risk, today announced the release of new...

LogicGate Revolutionizes Compliance Management with Launch of Automated Evidence Collection Feature for Risk Cloud Platform (PR Newswire) LogicGate, a leading provider of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) solutions through its Risk Cloud® platform, announced today the...

Fortress Information Security and NetRise Collaborate to Secure Software Supply Chains for Critical Industries (Fortress Information Security) Fortress Information Security (Fortress) and NetRise today partnered to offer a new, innovative Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) transparency solution to secure software supply chains and meet evolving regulatory requirements for software transparency.

ZeroFox Announces New Anti-Phishing Capabilities to Stop Emergent and Multi-Channel Phishing Attacks at the Source (GlobeNewswire News Room) Global leader in digital risk protection further extends depth and breadth of phishing coverage amid spike in malicious domains and cloaking...

Synacor Helps Streamers Enter The Passwordless Era With Cloud ID Passkey Connect (GlobeNewswire News Room) Managed identity access management service for service providers and content owners eliminates login friction for streamlined content access on any...

Thales & Intel for Safer End-to-end Data Security (Thales Group) Thales & Intel enhancing trust in confidential computing, using CipherTrust Data Security Platform and Intel Trust Authority to deliver safer end-to-end data security.

Sophos Excels in MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK® Evaluations with 99% Detection Coverage (GlobeNewswire News Room) Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, today...

Intel Launches New Attestation Service as Part of Trust Authority Portfolio (SecurityWeek) Intel announces an attestation service that is part of Trust Authority, a new portfolio of security software and services

Mac in the Enterprise: Cisco's Success with Employee Device Choice (JAMF) Discover how the inclusion of Macs improved employee satisfaction, productivity, security and cost savings. Fletcher Previn, SVP and CIO at Cisco, shares insights..

People

Dashlane Deepens Senior Leadership Bench to Further Accelerate Strategic Growth and Product Expansion (Dashlane) Dashlane welcomes four experienced security and technical leaders to support its continued growth and expansion of product offerings.

SonicWall adds key piece to channel leadership transformation: names new Chief Marketing Officer Christine Bartlett (SonicWall) SonicWall, a world-leading cybersecurity, partner-first business for more than 30-years, announced today that Christine Bartlett will serve as its Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Bartlett will oversee the global marketing team, with responsibility for building the global brand and driving partner marketing.

Megan Lueders Joins Sonatype as Chief Marketing Officer (GlobeNewswire News Room) Respected Marketing Veteran Brings 20 Years of Experience in Driving Transformation and Growth B2B Tech Companies...

Rootly Hires Ex-Google Sales Leader to Accelerate Growth Into Enterprise IT Organizations (Investors Observer) Rahul Parmar brings over a decade of enterprise sales experience to fast-growing tech startup

Zero Trust Creator John Kindervag Joins Illumio to Accelerate Adoption of Zero Trust Segmentation (GlobeNewswire News Room) Former practitioner, analyst, and Palo Alto Networks executive on a mission to protect organizations by bringing microsegmentation to every Zero Trust...

New Acquisition Powers AI-based Network Detection and Response and Open XDR Capabilities for WatchGuard (WatchGuard Technologies) Once integrated into the WatchGuard Unified Security Platform architecture, the CyGlass technology will deliver AI- and ML-based detection of network anomalies and accelerate Open XDR capabilities.

Cybereason Announces Strategic Executive Hires and Successful Funding Round to Drive Global Growth (PR Newswire) Cybereason, the leader in future-ready attack protection, announced today the strategic appointments of Manish Narula as Chief Financial...

Delinea Appoints David Koenig as Chief Information Officer (PR Newswire) Delinea, a leading provider of solutions that seamlessly extend Privileged Access Management (PAM), today announced that David Koenig has...

Bishop Fox Expands Leadership with First CISO and CTO (GlobeNewswire News Room) Bishop Fox veteran Christie Terrill elevated to CISO; Drove company certification of ISO/IEC 27001 Type 2 and SOC2 Type 2...