SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SecurityAdvisor, the only personalized security awareness platform that quantifiably reduces security incidents, announced it closed a $7.3 million Series A funding round led by ClearSky Security along with additional investment from Crosslink Capital, SixThirty Ventures, and Cyber Mentor Fund. The Company's patented platform integrates easily within existing security infrastructure to deliver targeted coaching that teaches employees how to identify and remediate cyberattacks while providing security teams with insights that help them better understand the human element of their organization's security posture. SecurityAdvisor's deep integrations with leading cybersecurity vendors, including CrowdStrike, provide visibility across the entire organization for security teams and quantifies security teams' ROI. SecurityAdvisor will use the capital to support product development and drive market awareness of its innovative offering amongst enterprise security leaders.
"The work environment that has emerged due to the pandemic and will remain a part of our new norm prominently features remote environments that rely on employees' autonomy and resilience to cyberattacks," said Peter Kuper, managing partner, ClearSky Security. "SecurityAdvisor's ability to deliver personalized coaching to build awareness and change user behavior is a disruptive shift from the traditional security training model. Rather than executing basic compliance-based security training, security leaders can use SecurityAdvisor to implement continuous education processes that flag risky behaviors in real-time to prevent data breaches."
Human actions are the primary reason for security breaches. Cybercriminals have learned how to manipulate bored, distracted, and stressed out humans' behaviors to steal credentials and confidential information, which has only increased during businesses' immediate shift to remote work. The Verizon Business 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report found that users are three times more likely to click on a phishing link and enter their credentials than they were pre-COVID. With more than 80% of company leaders surveyed by Gartner saying they plan to permit employees to work at least part of the time remotely upon reopening, it's clear that enterprises must make investments to empower their workforce to identify and remediate cyberattacks.
“Dynamic and timely security awareness education for employees is a primary piece of a comprehensive security strategy for any organization looking to protect their data and assets in an increasingly complex cyber threat environment,” said Andy Horwitz, vice president of CrowdStrike Store and Technology Alliances, “SecurityAdvisor provides valuable automated microlessons for employees based on real-life incidents detected by the CrowdStrike Falcon platform. With the SecurityAdvisor app in the CrowdStrike Store, customers can implement their next-gen security awareness training platform in minutes utilizing their existing investment in the Falcon platform.”
SecurityAdvisor's ability to deliver contextual educational content to workers during 'teachable moments' quantifiably improves organizational security. Using the patented SecurityAdvisor platform, enterprises were able to:
- Reduce overall security incidents by 70%
- Reduce email phishing attacks by more than 50%
- Lower endpoint malware detections by more than 90%
- Cut web violations in half
- Decrease removable media incidents by more than 90%
"We're proud that ClearSky and our other investors see the value in our platform and the market opportunity ahead of us," said Sai Venkataraman, CEO of SecurityAdvisor. "We plan to fundamentally disrupt the cybersecurity awareness training market through a fundamental belief that people need personalized coaching to avoid falling victim to sophisticated cyberattacks. This round of funding will help SecurityAdvisor to strategically grow the company, enabling us to continue to help more enterprises manage their top security risk."
About ClearSky
ClearSky is a venture capital/growth equity firm that has been operating since 2012 with offices in Florida, New York, Boston, and San Francisco. ClearSky is currently investing through two funds: ClearSky Power & Technology and ClearSky Security. ClearSky Power & Technology invests in innovative companies providing technology and services to enterprise customers, with a special focus on the power sector. ClearSky Security invests in companies that offer transformative solutions for cybersecurity, industrial security, and critical infrastructure security.
About SecurityAdvisor
Founded in 2018, SecurityAdvisor provides the only personalized security awareness platform that quantifiably reduces security incidents. The Company’s patented platform integrates easily with existing security infrastructure to deliver real-time coaching for each employee, teaching them how to identify and remediate cyberattacks and help security teams better measure the ROI and effectiveness of their training initiatives. For more information, please visit www.securityadvisor.io and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
