Content by Michael Novinson

Protect AI Purchases Huntr to Extend Bug Bounties to AI, ML

Michael Novinson  •  August 11, 2023

Protect AI bought one of the world's largest certified naming authorities to create a bug bounty platform focused exclusively on AI and ML open-source software. The acquisition will allow customers to discover exploits in the AI or ML supply chain weeks before they're publicly revealed.

How Firms Can Disclose Cyber Incidents While Staying Secure

Michael Novinson  •  August 11, 2023

Public companies disclosing a cyber incident under the new U.S. reporting requirements should focus on the business impact and stay away from the technical pieces, said Venable's Grant Schneider. The disclosure should examine how the incident will affect revenue, profitability and public perception.

Check Point to Buy SSE, ZTNA Startup Perimeter 81 for $490M

Michael Novinson  •  August 10, 2023

Perimeter 81 will be sold to Check Point for $490 million, but it had to slash its valuation by more than half to seal the deal. Check Point said its proposed buy of New York-based Perimeter 81 will fuel the adoption of secure access across remote users, sites, cloud, data centers and the internet.

Rapid7 Lays Off 18% of Employees Amid Shift to MDR Services

Michael Novinson  •  August 9, 2023

Rapid7 will lay off close to 1 in 5 of its employees in cuts that amount to the second-largest round of layoffs of any pure-play cybersecurity company since worries about an economic downturn began percolating in spring 2022. The vendor will reduce its 2,623-person staff by 18%.

Rubrik Buys Startup Laminar to Unify Cyber Posture, Recovery

Michael Novinson  •  August 8, 2023

Rubrik purchased a data security posture management startup backed by Salesforce and SentinelOne to provide visibility into where a company's data lives and who has access. The Laminar buy will help organizations expand beyond network and endpoint security and into cloud and data security.

Netskope CEO on the Security Perks, Perils of Generative AI

Michael Novinson  •  August 7, 2023

Generative AI can detect malicious behavior undetectable by traditional forms of AI such as adversaries stealing sensitive data by sticking it in images, said Netskope CEO Sanjay Beri. Netskope has over 50 machine-learning models in production and has debuted AI-based DLP and threat detection tools.

OpenText Exec on What the Micro Focus Buy Means for Security

Michael Novinson  •  August 7, 2023

OpenText acquired several cyber companies in recent years to protect sensitive information and data everywhere from consumer to large enterprise environments, said EVP Prentiss Donohue. The Micro Focus buy shored up OpenText's offerings around application and data security and identity management.

WatchGuard CEO Prakash Panjwani on Making XDR Easy for MSPs

Michael Novinson  •  August 4, 2023

WatchGuard's presence on both the endpoint and network allows the company to accelerate response and remediation times on behalf of MSPs, CEO Prakash Panjwani said. MSPs can determine how much of the response they want WatchGuard to automate based on their level of sophistication.

Kate Bolseth on Why Fortra Has Aggressively Sought Cyber M&A

Michael Novinson  •  August 4, 2023

Fortra has pursued acquisitions in the infrastructure protection, data protection, and digital risk and email protection markets to help customers improve security posture. CEO Kate Bolseth said clients told Fortra they had challenges within segments such as security awareness and managed services.

How Generative AI Helps Clients Harden Their Attack Surface

Michael Novinson  •  August 4, 2023

ServiceNow wants to apply generative AI to its knowledge around how customer environments are configured to help organizations harden their digital attack surface. Security product leader Lou Fiorello said ServiceNow will use generative AI to leverage its presence across the entire enterprise.

Fortinet Sales Growth Slows as Enterprise Deals Get Delayed

Michael Novinson  •  August 3, 2023

A delay in finalizing enterprise deals and a shorter average contract duration have forced Fortinet to lower its sales forecast going forward. The Silicon Valley-based platform security vendor said average contract length shortened from 29.5 months to 28 months in the fiscal quarter ended June 30.

Why Privacy, Device Management Are Better VC Bets Than Cloud

Michael Novinson  •  August 3, 2023

Ten Eleven Ventures' Alex Doll sees privacy and device management as the hottest areas for security startups and cloud companies as "coming from behind." Advancements in privacy-enhanced technologies have allowed for searchable encryption, meaning that entire databases can be locked down.

Infoblox CEO on Bringing DNS Protection to Domain Monitoring

Michael Novinson  •  August 3, 2023

New CEO Scott Harrell wants Infoblox to evolve from classic networking DNS management to bringing networking and security together in ways that optimize protection and efficiency. DNS serves as a building block for security since it is universal across large client devices and small mobile phones.

Endor Labs Raises $70M to Push From Code to Pipeline Defense

Michael Novinson  •  August 3, 2023

A finalist in RSA Conference's prestigious Innovation Sandbox contest completed its first major funding round to extend its capabilities from code security to pipeline security. Endor Labs got $70 million to move beyond protecting open-source software and get into locking down the CI/CD pipeline.

Tenable CEO Slams Microsoft for Failing to Quickly Patch Bug

Michael Novinson  •  August 2, 2023

Tenable CEO Amit Yoran once again accused Microsoft of irresponsible security practices, this time for letting a critical Azure vulnerability stay unpatched for four months. Tenable told Microsoft about a flaw in an Azure service that would allow an unauthenticated attacker to access sensitive data.