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Cybereason Raises $200M from Softbank, as CEO Dismisses “Irrelevant” McAfee, Symantec

"You shouldn't think about security like it's an IT problem"

By CBR Staff Writer

Japan’s Softbank has invested $200 million in Boston-based endpoint detection and response company Cybereason in a Series E funding round – which values the company at over $1 billion, according to those close to the deal.

Softbank has been a customer of the company since 2015 and has now invested $400 million in the company, doubling down on an early bet. Rapidly growing Cybereason, meanwhile, says its customer base has increased by more than 300 percent in the past 24 months, and it is now protecting six million endpoints.

Cybereason runs AI-powered endpoint monitoring as an AWS-based SaaS offering. It says it processes over eight million events per second on each endpoint and is building “the world’s first full stack offering for truly autonomous security.”

The company was founded by ex-8200 unit (Israel’s signals intelligence unit) hackers, including current CTO Yonatan Striem-Amit. It names defence giant Lockheed Martin, also an investor, among its high-profile customers.

Cybereason’s founders, from left: Yonatan Striem-Amit, CTO, Lior Div, CEO and Yossi Naar, CVO

Cybereason CEO: “You Need a New Mindset”

CEO Lior Div told Computer Business Review that he’s on a mission to make his company the biggest cybersecurity firm in the world. He said in a call this week: “We are here to disrupt the endpoint protection market.

“The cyber problem is becoming bigger and bigger every day, and the old guard like Symantec and McAfee just don’t cut it anymore. Look at Symantec: it doesn’t even have a CEO. McAfee? All it cares about is EBITDA… You need a new mindset. You need to think like a hacker; not think about security like it’s an IT problem.”

Cybereason said it will ramp up operations with the additional capital, focusing on global growth in all geographies and will “aggressively expand and grow its partner program while continuing to innovate its core EPP offering.”

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The funding round, the largest for a cybersecurity company in 2019 and among the largest single rounds for a cybersecurity company in recent years, comes after Cybereason uncovered what it dubbed “Softcell”: a major nationstate-led infiltration of global telecommunications companies.

The privately held company is headquartered in Boston, with offices in London, Sydney, Tel Aviv and Tokyo. The company says it will ” will increase investment in its core organic R&D, will continue to develop strategic partnership integrations and will evaluate inorganic acquisition opportunities” with the capital.

 

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