Improving Cyber Security in a World of Connections
Leading a new investment in SecurityScorecard, the technology leader in cyber security rating
By Upal Basu, Partner, NGP
It was announced last week that we led a $27.5M Series C investment in SecurityScorecard the leading cyber security ratings provider. Joining us in this round were new investors Moody’s Corporation, AXA Ventures and Intel Capital, as well as existing investors. I am privileged to be joining SecurityScorecard’s board. Having led the Connected Enterprise theme at NGP for the past decade, I wanted to share some reflections on this deal, and on the industry in general.
Over the last several years, we have been tracking the rapid growth of internet-connected servers, containers, cloud services, endpoints and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies across a wide range of industries.
Each of these connections increases the vulnerability of an enterprise to security breaches, both malicious and accidental
Security professionals struggle to monitor this rapidly growing exposure. SecurityScorecard is addressing this massive challenge head-on, with a highly scalable solution that helps enterprises gain visibility and control throughout their IT ecosystem, including the systems of partners and customers. This is why I am excited to support SecurityScorecard as it scales its business globally and, more specifically, expands into new technologies and industries.
The challenge: hyper growth of connectivity
The enterprise is shifting beyond internally controlled servers and endpoints to a world where intelligence is distributed both throughout the cloud and at the edge. Data is communicated and acted upon by highly distributed devices, often outside enterprise visibility or control. Each enterprise is directly or indirectly connected to a global network of vendors, intermediaries and customers. The security standards of many of these parties are often weak, exposing the enterprise to malware infection from third parties.
Recently, cyber criminals have shut down parts of the internet using massive botnet-created denial of service attacks, hacked into over 100 million consumers and exposed their personal information, and used ransom ware to disrupt industries worldwide. We expect these types of attacks to escalate as more devices (especially Internet of Things devices) are added to the internet.
Because of this hyper growth in connectivity and the risks it brings, cyber security is an increasingly hot topic in the C-suites and at the Board of Director level in enterprises around the world
Cyber security solutions that effectively address these risks are in high demand.
Why SecurityScorecard?
SecurityScorecard provides continuous, objective security analysis and ratings for enterprises. Powered by machine learning, the accuracy of their security ratings increases as more companies and IP addresses are monitored. SecurityScorecard’ s unique technology architecture enables the company to continuously monitor over one million enterprises. And with an intuitive, user-friendly interface, enterprises can download and start using the service within minutes. These capabilities are what enable SecurityScorecard to provide the most scalable and accurate security ratings service in the industry.
Exceptional team with domain expertise
In addition to the large market opportunity and SecurityScorecard’s innovative service offering, we were impressed by the exceptional quality of the SecurityScorecard team and their extensive expertise in enterprise security.
Founder and CEO Aleksandr Yampolskiy’s deep domain expertise includes his role as former Chief Security Officer at the e-commerce retailer Gilt Group, and security roles at Goldman Sachs, Oracle and Microsoft. Co-Founder Sam Kassoumeh led global security at Federal-Mogul. Chief Technology Officer Jasson Casey was previously head of engineering at IronNet CyberSecurity. Collectively, the SecurityScorecard executive team has 90-plus years of security experience, including 8 exits.
We are proud to be backing Alex and his team as they build a business that protects our digital world!
