RSAC is a great place to gain insight into what’s new and who’s new in the security industry, and this year is no exception. One announcement that caught our attention is from the cybersecurity software company that uses behavioral science and data science to transform security awareness and human cyber risk management—CybSafe. CybSafe announced it closed a $28 million Series B funding round, taking its total funding to $40 million.Â
CybSafe’s June 6, 2022 announcement states that Evolution Equity Partners led the funding round, with participation from Emerald Development Managers and existing investors IQ Capital and Hannover Digital Investments (HDI) GmbH.
The investment results from CybSafe’s continued innovation and pioneering approach to managing human cybersecurity risk. Since its Series A, CybSafe has experienced significant customer growth, adding key enterprise accounts to its impressive roster of customers, including Credit Suisse, Barclays Bank, HSBC, FNZ Group, and Moody’s. Additionally, CybSafe has also been on a mission to bolster its team. Its new Chief Marketing Officer, Munyaradzi Hoto recently joined the team to drive growth and international expansion.
It also follows CybSafe’s recognition as a global market leader by independent market analysis firm, Forrester. According to the Forrester Wave Report, CybSafe is disrupting with its data-driven approach to managing human risk and is recognized as having “pioneered a new approach to SA&T (security awareness and training) that uses data and metrics to change behavior and instill a security culture”.
Human error caused an estimated 80 percent of data breaches in 2021, according to CybSafe’s ICO analysis. Companies need to tackle behavior to develop a security-first culture. Yet, most security teams still can’t quickly assess the impact their security controls have on user behavior or the associated cyber risk.
CybSafe will use the Series B investment to further its mission to support its customers in changing human behavior and lowering cybersecurity risk with behavioral and data science, ultimately preventing security incidents. In addition, to accelerate its product development, it will expand its team across all roles, including cybersecurity specialists, behavioral scientists, data scientists, and software engineers. It will also focus on go-to-market activities expanding into new geographies, including the US market.
Oz Alashe MBE, former UK Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel and the CEO and founder of CybSafe, said: “Cybersecurity has always been a challenge. Keeping pace today is more complex than before. And not keeping pace has more severe consequences. This has not gone unnoticed. Cybersecurity is a top priority across many management boards, with businesses spending more time and money. Recent research from CybSafe and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 1 in 3 people have been victims of a cyber breach. Furthermore, 1 in 5 have been victims more than once. For too long, cybersecurity training has forgotten people, lacked any scientific basis, and provided no data to evidence its effectiveness. We are here to revolutionize this by helping businesses reduce risk by positively influencing behaviors in a way that can be measured.”
Karthik Subramanian, Partner at Evolution Equity Partners, said, “We invest in founders with disruptive cybersecurity offerings that are reimagining how businesses approach the increasing depth and breadth of cyber threats. CybSafe’s disruptive approach tackles a complex problem with a simple solution. They design their products with the user in mind, ensuring they are tackling the cause rather than simply treating the symptoms of cyber risk. CybSafe goes far beyond traditional compliance driven approaches to security awareness, and instead focuses on delivering a genuine reduction in human cyber risk.”
Hastings Direct is one of many financial organizations that has adopted CybSafe into their practices. Simon Legg, Chief Information Security Officer at Hastings Direct said, “We chose CybSafe because we believe it provides us a way to approach the human side of cyber risk beyond traditional, compliance based, mandatory information security training. Amongst other things we wanted great insight and visibility into user attitudes and security behaviors and we appreciate CybSafe’s use of data and a scientific framework to deliver effective support to our colleagues. This new investment round is fantastic news, and I look forward to seeing how CybSafe further develops the platform.”
Steven Bowcut is an award-winning journalist covering cyber and physical security. He is an editor and writer for Brilliance Security Magazine as well as other security and non-security online publications. Follow and connect with Steve on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.