Cyber-Security: Protecting Companies and Citizens From Assault

Milken Institute | Apr 28, 2015

Video: Ray Rothrock, Chairman and CEO, RedSeal; Partner Emeritus, Venrock speaks at the Milken Institute Annual Global Conference.

MEDIA ALERT – Cybersecurity expert and RedSeal CEO Ray Rothrock to speak at Milken Institute Annual Global Conference

WHAT: The Milken Institute turns ideas into real-world initiatives that address some of society’s greatest challenges: widening access to capital, creating jobs and improving health. More than 3,500 world leaders, financiers, philanthropists, Fortune 500 executives, scientists and celebrities from 60-plus countries, all senior leaders in their fields, offering significant ideas on how we can address the rapid changes in the finance and business sectors and solve some of the world’s most pressing social issues.

WHY: Cybersecurity: Protecting Companies and Citizens from Assault will cover high-profile cyberattacks of banks, retailers and health care providers, which reveal how vulnerable businesses and their customers are to hackers. The efficiency of electronic data networks is beyond question, but they also create new security concerns. In the business world, companies risk losing sales if consumers aren’t satisfied that confidential information is safe. Cybersecurity also is critical to government efforts to monitor the communications and movements of terror organizations. How can the government and private business work together to protect privacy and keep the nation safe from attack? How can we balance security concerns with the need for data to move freely between businesses and their customers? This panel will discuss the threats that lurk in cyberspace and steps that are being taken to counter them.

WHO:

  • Ray Rothrock, Chairman & CEO, RedSeal; Partner Emeritus, Venrock
  • Suzanne Spaulding, Under Secretary, National Protection and Programs Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
  • Alex Stamos, Chief Information Security Officer and Vice President, Information Security, Yahoo
  • Eli Sugarman, Program Officer, Cyber Initiative, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Moderator)

WHEN:

  • Tuesday, April 28, 2015
  • 02:30 PM – 03:30 PM (PDT)

WHERE:

  • The Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles, CA

About RedSeal (redseal.co)
RedSeal provides a cybersecurity analytics platform to Global 2000 organizations that helps maximize digital resilience against cyber events. RedSeal’s advanced analytics engine creates functioning network modelstests networks to identify security risks, prioritizes needed actions, and provides critical information to quickly remediate issues. The result: measurable reduced cybersecurity risk and lower incident response and maintenance costs. With operations in North America, Europe, and Asia, RedSeal customers include leaders in finance, retail, technology, utilities, service providers, and government, all served by RedSeal’s channel partner network.

Visit redseal.co or call 1-888.845.8169 for more information.

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RedSeal and the RedSeal logo are trademarks of RedSeal, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Inquiries:
Michelle Sieling
Finn Partners/Horn Group
+1 (415) 905-4013
michelle.sieling@finnpartners.com

Cyber-Attacks Cause Consternation in the C-Suite

eWeek | Apr 27, 2015

A coordinated assault launched by sophisticated cyber-criminals would wreak ongoing havoc on business operations, cause considerable harm to a brand, and potentially affect related companies, even entire industries, according to a report by RedSeal.

RedSeal Study Uncovers Fears of Potential Domino Effect from Widespread Cyberattacks

While most C-level executives say cyberattacks can cause serious disruption to their own operation, many also express concerns about farther-reaching impact on the broader infrastructure at the local, state and national level

See associated RedSeal Domino Effect infographic

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — April 20, 2015 — RedSeal (redseal.co), the cybersecurity certification company, today unveiled its comprehensive survey of high-ranking executives that vividly illustrates widespread concern regarding the potential effects of cyberattacks in corporate America. Most of the C-level professionals surveyed readily acknowledge that a coordinated assault launched by sophisticated cybercriminals would wreak ongoing havoc on business operations, cause considerable harm to a brand, and potentially affect related companies, even entire industries. In addition, many also point out that in the networked economy, containing the problems caused by a sustained network attack will be very difficult. In fact, a major network disruption at a single company or network can easily disrupt or even wreak havoc on a local, state, national and even global level.

“As this research makes clear, securing the network infrastructure to ensure ongoing business operations is not an abstract concern: It’s a vital issue, because a successful attack will have devastating and even far-reaching consequences,” said Ray Rothrock, chairman and CEO of RedSeal. “A coordinated, sophisticated and large-scale assault will not stay within the walls of the company being attacked. It could easily trigger a domino effect and cause widespread disruption, reaching companies in other sectors and even the national grid. I’ve been investing in cybersecurity for 25 years, and I see how the level of sophistication in cyberattacks has increased dramatically in just the past few years.”

The RedSeal study surveyed more than 350 C-level executives (CEOs, CIOs, CISOs and CSOs). All are at organizations with 250 or more employees, and at least 20% lead companies with more than 1,000 employees. The answers offer a clear view into corporate America’s concerns over cybersecurity and the potential fallout from attacks on the network infrastructure.

The vast majority of the executives surveyed, 74%, acknowledge that cyberattacks on networks of U.S. organizations can cause “serious damage or disruption,” and most of the rest, 21%, admit to fears of “significant damage or disruption.” More specifically, almost 80% admit that such attacks can inflict “serious impacts to business profitability and growth,” and bring about “serious brand damage.” A large number, 45%, also related personnel concerns, saying such events will lead to a “big hit on employee productivity.” More than 43% also predict business downtime, while more than 41% fear “internal/organizational disruption or chaos.”

Moreover, many of the respondents are also very aware that in this intricately networked economy, it will be very difficult to contain the problems once an attack begins. Asked what other areas might be affected by the “resulting ripple effects of cyberattacks on one network,” a clear majority, 64%, cited “further business-related security vulnerabilities.” More than half, 56%, went further, citing “national vulnerabilities,” and an even larger number, 59%, agreed with the possibility of a security domino effect.

In fact, the idea of a domino effect—one successful attack on one network leading directly to attacks on different networks in diverse but connected sectors of the economy—clearly resonated strongly with the executives surveyed. More than half the respondents, 52%, singled out “defense systems” as being potentially affected by a cyber-criminal incident or data breach, while 45% cited “border security.” And taking a big picture approach, a significant 59% said such attacks will take their toll on “economic security.”

Judging by the responses, most important sectors of the economy will be severely affected. These include:

  • Financial/Banking: 53%
  • Energy/Utilities: 46%
  • Government or critical infrastructure functions: 41%
  • Stock exchange/trading: 41%
  • Healthcare: 35%

“What this survey rightly highlights is that in a hyper-networked economy, where most networks are inextricably linked to each other, a major network attack will be very difficult to isolate,” said Richard Stiennon of IT-Harvest. “This isn’t an IT or even a basic operational issue—it has national significance, and should be managed accordingly.”

Publication:
Press Release

About RedSeal (redseal.co)
RedSeal provides a cybersecurity analytics platform to Global 2000 organizations that helps maximize digital resilience against cyber events. RedSeal’s advanced analytics engine creates functioning network modelstests networks to identify security risks, prioritizes needed actions, and provides critical information to quickly remediate issues. The result: measurable reduced cybersecurity risk and lower incident response and maintenance costs. With operations in North America, Europe, and Asia, RedSeal customers include leaders in finance, retail, technology, utilities, service providers, and government, all served by RedSeal’s channel partner network.

Visit redseal.co or call 1-888.845.8169 for more information.

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RedSeal and the RedSeal logo are trademarks of RedSeal, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Inquiries:
Michelle Sieling
Finn Partners/Horn Group
+1 (415) 905-4013
michelle.sieling@finnpartners.com

C-suite execs fear ‘domino effect’ of cyber attacks: Survey

IT World Canada | Apr 20, 2015

In a poll of 350 executives which included chief information officers, chief information security officers, chief executive officers and chief security officers from companies with workforces ranging from 250 to 1,000 employees, RedSeal found 59 per cent of respondents believe a major cyber incident could affect a country’s economic security.

Capital Gains: LinkedIn Goes to School, Domo Gets to $2 Billion and More

re/code | Apr 12, 2015

RedSeal, the network security firm led by ex-National Venture Capital Association president Ray Rothrock, raised $17 million in funding. “The watch-word for the SendGrid breach is ‘interdependence,’” he said in an email. “In the online world, we may think we’re dealing with one company, but we’re actually dealing with them and every other company they choose to deal with. This makes an ever-widening attack surface.”

What SendGrid can teach us about dependency

The watch-word for the SendGrid breach is “interdependence”.  In the online world, we may think we’re dealing with one company, but we’re actually dealing with them and with every other company they choose to deal with.  This makes an ever-widening attack surface.  (The breaking news about the Chinese “Great Cannon” software shows similar patterns.)  These days, if you visit a website, you can be confident you are actually talking to a huge variety of other organizations who may provide ads, services, traffic monitoring, or any other legitimate services.  One recent study of a popular news site showed that reading a simple news story meant your browser spoke to 38 distinct hosts, spread across no less than 20 different organizational domains!  The problem is that this array of services is very large, and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  Attackers only need to find one weak point to start an attack.

RedSeal Announces Major Re-Launch with Additional Funding, Expanded Management Team and New Offerings

Company renews focus on strategic technologies to certify network security, accelerate network compliance, and harden next-generation networks

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — April 07, 2015 — RedSeal (redseal.co), the cybersecurity certification company, today announced a major re-launch of the company with $17 million in Series C funding from new and existing investors, the formation of an expanded management team with blue-chip experience, and a slate of new technologies and services. The new RedSeal security analytics platform provides intelligence to protect critical network assets, and accommodates emerging Cloud and mobile technologies.

“RedSeal has built its reputation in the market through innovation and customer results. Now we have the ability to build on that momentum and pursue new opportunities in new markets,” said Chairman and CEO Ray Rothrock. “This additional funding enables us to increase our engineering capabilities and expand our footprint both domestically and overseas. We’re privileged that these investors share our vision of enhanced security through visibility that provides insight into all possible network paths, and helps executives easily understand how disparate solutions are working together—or not—to protect digital assets and infrastructure.”

New Funding

Series C investors include:

  • Tyco: The world’s largest pure-play fire protection and security company, with more than $10 billion in revenue, three million customers around the globe, and operations in more than 900 locations across 50 countries. “Security is core to our business, and we understand the importance of physical security and cybersecurity,” said Nick Nedostup, Chief Information Security Officer at Tyco. “We recognize RedSeal and its new management team as leaders in cybersecurity, and we believe RedSeal will extend that leadership in this dynamic and fast-growing market.”
  • MATH Venture Partners: A Chicago-based technology investment firm. “Companies need full visibility and context to harden their networks and respond effectively to breaches,” said Mark Achler, Managing Director. “This missing element in most companies’ cyberdefenses is exactly the gap that RedSeal fills.”
  • Additional new investors: Pallasite Ventures, DRW, and others.
  • Existing investors: Venrock, Sutter Hill, Icon Ventures, Leapfrog, and Olympic Ventures also participated.
  • CEO Ray Rothrock: “I’ve been in the cybersecurity field for 22 years, and as an investor I’ve been involved with 18 security startups,” Mr. Rothrock noted. “The essence of a good company, especially in the ever-changing field of technology, is to provide innovative solutions that meet not only the current market needs but those that are still over the horizon. I’m proud to say that RedSeal exceeds that high bar, and that’s why I’m so committed to its future.”

Strategic Security

Many companies now face network complexity that far exceeds their ability to effectively understand and manage. Moreover, most organizations have operating siloes that create security gaps as disconnected groups handle different aspects of networking and security. At the same time, disparate point products don’t work together, different devices don’t talk to one another, and different monitoring and reporting products don’t communicate at all.

The new RedSeal security platform provides intelligence that protects critical data, accommodates emerging cloud and mobile technologies, and limits damage not only within a targeted network but also within connected infrastructures such as the Cloud. RedSeal’s advanced analytics engine creates a functioning model of your network, tests your network to identify security risks, prioritizes needed actions, and gives you critical information to quickly remediate issues. The result: reduced cybersecurity risk and lower maintenance and incident response costs. Specific customer benefits include the ability to see their networks “as-built” (rather than as “wishing it was built”), fix their most critical security issues first, accelerate incident response, and understand the security impact of changes to the network. RedSeal evaluates the largest networks in the world.

As a result, RedSeal represents potentially the single most strategic cybersecurity tool in a company’s arsenal. Specifically, the RedSeal solution:

  • Provides enhanced visibility and intelligence, enabling the security team to see broadly and deeply into the entire network, including all ingress paths an attacker can take and potential data egress paths.
  • Identifies areas where other security products are not installed optimally or have misconfigurations that can take them out of compliance. Both of these issues can become serious liabilities.
  • Offers actionable information that prioritizes recommended remediation or fixes, enabling solid network awareness, proactive defense and rapid incident response.

Today, more than 200 corporations and government agencies worldwide have ‘RedSealed’ their networks. RedSeal is used in many large US federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, civilian and intelligence communities. The company’s commercial customers span the finance, utilities, service provider, technology and retail sectors.

Technology Innovation

RedSeal’s newly expanded platform incorporates a transformational and innovative architecture designed to address not only existing threat vectors but also emerging cloud and mobile technologies. Organizations can have a unified view of their entire network– from the cloud to on-premise devices — and visibility from the application to the network layer.

RedSeal’s latest platform provides:

  • Cloud connectivity: Offering the same detailed visibility into virtual networks, RedSeal enables organizations to verify and optimize the security settings of private and public cloud deployments (including Amazon Web Services and VMware vShield).
  • Faster incident response with Layer 2 discovery: Organizations now have visibility through the network layers. They can identify and prioritize exposed assets after a breach and isolate affected hosts quickly.
  • One source for understanding overall network security and resilience with smartphone application and control center: The smartphone app provides an executive view of an organization’s network security, and a security score based upon current data analytics. It also provides trend data. This lets managers instantly understand how the network is doing, receive status updates on any changes in their security posture, and look at trends. The control center provides a broader and deeper summary with easily accessed detail.
  • Policy template manager: This adds a policy template library for shared and custom templates. It features updated policy templates for specific regulations and allows organizations to create custom policy templates.
  • IPv6 reporting: This detects the use of IPv6 on the network and creates an inventory of IPv6 address usage.
  • Plugin development tools: Plugins provide for rapid integration of network devices, physical and virtual. Consulting engineering teams and channel partners can more easily create plugins for network devices that are not currently supported in the RedSeal plugin bundle.

Visionary Management

RedSeal has put in place a top-tier management team with deep expertise and longtime experience in the always-shifting universe of network security. They include:

  • Ray Rothrock, Chairman and CEO: Before joining RedSeal as CEO in February 2014, Ray was a general partner at Venrock, one of the founding investors of RedSeal. While there he invested in 53 companies, including more than a dozen in cyber security. He is currently on the board of Check Point Software Technology, Ltd., an original Venrock investment, and Team8, both Tel Aviv-based companies. A thought leader in cybersecurity and longtime investor in the sector, he was a participant in the White House Cybersecurity Summit held at Stanford University February 2015. Ray holds a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A & M University, a MS in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Corporation Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Pete Sinclair, COO: Pete joined RedSeal as COO in February 2014. He also serves as managing partner at LeapFrog Ventures, one of RedSeal’s initial investors. Pete has guided RedSeal as an investor and board member since its founding in 2004. He has more than 20 years of operating experience and 15 years of VC experience. He previously worked with several successful companies, two of which went public and others that were acquired by Microsoft and Adobe. He began his career with Hewlett-Packard and joined Apple when it was still a small private company. Pete has a BS in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a graduate of Stanford Business School’s Executive Program for Small Company Presidents. He twice served as mayor of the Town of Woodside.
  • Dr. Mike Lloyd, CTO: With more than 25 years’ experience in the modeling and control of fast-moving systems, Mike has been granted 21 patents in security, network assessment, and dynamic network control. Before joining RedSeal, he was CTO of RouteScience Technologies (acquired by Avaya), where he pioneered self-optimizing networks. He also served as principal architect at Cisco on the technology used to overlay MPLS VPN services across service provider backbones. He joined Cisco through the acquisition of Netsys Technologies, where he was the senior network modeling engineer. Mike has a degree in mathematics from Trinity College, Ireland, and a PhD in stochastic epidemic modeling from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Additional management bios are available at https://www.redseal.net/content/leadership

Customer Viewpoint

Cisco’s Chief Security and Trust Officer, John Stewart, said, “The network is the lifeblood between IT systems and the key security layer in IT. It should come as no surprise that our adversaries won’t hesitate to attack the network itself to siphon data, disrupt services, or change the configuration for their own gain. Central to effective cybersecurity is knowing that network infrastructure, and having a deep understanding of how it works, how safely configured it is, and what changes are made day to day.”

Pricing and Availability

RedSeal is available immediately and is priced based on the number of customer network devices, with discounts offered for larger networks.

About RedSeal (redseal.co)
RedSeal provides a cybersecurity analytics platform to Global 2000 organizations that helps maximize digital resilience against cyber events. RedSeal’s advanced analytics engine creates functioning network modelstests networks to identify security risks, prioritizes needed actions, and provides critical information to quickly remediate issues. The result: measurable reduced cybersecurity risk and lower incident response and maintenance costs. With operations in North America, Europe, and Asia, RedSeal customers include leaders in finance, retail, technology, utilities, service providers, and government, all served by RedSeal’s channel partner network.

Visit redseal.co or call 1-888.845.8169 for more information.

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RedSeal and the RedSeal logo are trademarks of RedSeal, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Inquiries:
Michelle Sieling
Finn Partners/Horn Group
+1 (415) 905-4013
michelle.sieling@finnpartners.com

RedSeal relauches with new features and $17M in funding

Fortune Termsheet | Apr 7, 2015

RedSeal, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based cybersecurity certification company, has raised $17 million in Series C funding.

RedSeal gets new funding, executives

NetworkWorld | Apr 7, 2015

Network visualization and risk assessment vendor RedSeal is re-launching with new capabilities, executives and funding that will be used to hire more engineers and boost its channel partners.