Content by Michael Novinson

ForgeRock, Ping, IBM, Okta Top KuppingerCole CIAM Tech Eval

Michael Novinson  •  October 14, 2022

Perennial leaders ForgeRock, Ping Identity and IBM, along with a surging Okta, set themselves apart from the pack of CIAM vendors in the latest report by KuppingerCole analysts. Ping Identity leapfrogged ForgeRock to capture the gold in product leadership, and IBM once again took the bronze.

Red Sift Acquires Attack Surface Management Vendor Hardenize

Michael Novinson  •  October 13, 2022

A phishing and fraud prevention vendor has bought a startup founded by Qualys' longtime engineering leader to help organizations more effectively discover and monitor assets. Red Sift says its purchase of Hardenize will help customers assess the security of their digital asset inventory.

Yotam Segev on What Distinguishes Cyera from Traditional DLP

Michael Novinson  •  October 13, 2022

CEO Yotam Segev says Cyera eschews the focus of data loss prevention tools on blocking users from pulling down data and instead embraces an approach that reduces friction. Cyera has sought to safeguard data by making preventative changes in areas like configuration, permissions and security posture.

Immersive Labs Raises $66M to Aid Cyber Workforce Resilience

Michael Novinson  •  October 12, 2022

Immersive Labs completed a funding round just weeks after laying off 10% of its workforce to cover more developer languages and safeguard Azure and Google Cloud. The Ten Eleven Ventures-led funding will help Immersive Labs expand its coverage from frontline cybersecurity staff to development teams.

KnowBe4 Agrees to Vista Equity's $4.6B Take-Private Deal

Michael Novinson  •  October 12, 2022

Vista Equity Partners and KnowBe4 have struck a deal to take the security awareness giant private for $4.6 billion in this week's second massive security acquisition. The agreement comes after the Austin, Texas-based investment firm upped its offer by $380 million, or nearly 4%, to $24.90 per share.

Thoma Bravo Identity Push Continues With $2.3B ForgeRock Buy

Michael Novinson  •  October 11, 2022

Thoma Bravo has deepened its presence in the identity space, agreeing to buy ForgeRock for $2.3 billion just months after inking deals with Ping Identity and SailPoint. The deals mean that Thoma Bravo has spent $12 billion building a platform with expertise around CIAM and identity governance.

Execs Say Google-Mandiant Deal to Merge Threat Intel, SecOps

Michael Novinson  •  October 11, 2022

The Google-Mandiant marriage will combine Google's security monitoring tools with Mandiant's threat intel and attack surface management solutions, plus new SOAR and file and URL analyzer capabilities, to create an "end-to-end threat intelligence and cybersecurity operations suite."

Arctic Wolf Gets $401M From Owl Rock to Pursue Acquisitions

Michael Novinson  •  October 6, 2022

Security operations stalwart Arctic Wolf has taken on more than $400 million in debt to pursue acquisitions in the cloud, SIEM, endpoint and XDR markets. The money will fuel an upcoming launch in the Asia-Pacific region and expansion in markets such as South Africa, Benelux and the Nordics.

Ring Login Issues Wednesday Stem From System Error, Not Hack

Michael Novinson  •  October 5, 2022

A claim Wednesday by high-profile security researcher Kevin Beaumont that video doorbell manufacturer Ring was experiencing a security issue sent Twitter atwitter. Amazon says some users experienced logon issues due to a back-end system error made during a routine system update.

Pen Test Firm NetSPI Gets $410M Boost From KKR to Fuel M&A

Michael Novinson  •  October 5, 2022

Rising offensive cyber star NetSPI has received a massive follow-up investment from KKR to pursue acquisitions and expand its technological and geographic footprint. KKR's $410 million bet comes on the heels of 50% organic sales growth for NetSPI in 2021 and 61% sales growth thus far in 2022.

Lacework Co-CEO David Hatfield Out 4 Months After Layoffs

Michael Novinson  •  October 5, 2022

David "Hat" Hatfield has exited the co-CEO role at Lacework just four months after the cloud security vendor laid off 20% of its employees. The move will bring Lacework's co-CEO experiment to an end after just 14 months, with Facebook engineering head Jay Parikh moving forward as sole CEO.

Qualys Buys Blue Hexagon to Aid Secure Public Cloud Adoption

Michael Novinson  •  October 4, 2022

Qualys has purchased a startup founded by longtime Qualcomm leaders to help detect supply chain infections, crypto miners and unauthorized activity in the cloud. The deal will allow customers to detect active exploitation, identify advanced threats and create an adaptive risk mitigation program.

Why Is Akamai an Appealing M&A Target for Private Equity?

Michael Novinson  •  October 3, 2022

The steady barrage of acquisition reports around publicly traded digital experience vendor Akamai has intensified in recent weeks. The latest salvo landed Monday when StreetInsider reported that the intelligent edge platform provider held talks with a private equity firm about a potential takeover.

Tim Eades of vArmour on Expanding From Banking to Government

Michael Novinson  •  October 3, 2022

While vArmour has enjoyed success in banking, the U.S. government is now the fastest-growing part of its business. CEO Tim Eades says much of the government doesn't understand the relationships and dependencies among vArmour's applications or the consequences of an application going down.

Cloudflare, VCs Join Forces to Give Away $1.25B to Startups

Michael Novinson  •  September 30, 2022

Cloudflare has joined forces with 26 venture capital firms to provide up to $1.25 billion in financing to startups building on the company's developer platform. The Workers Launchpad Funding Program will connect developers with investors around the world to scale their startups faster.