Protectwise Emerges From Stealth With More Than $17 Million In Funding To Launch World’s First Cloud DVR For Enterprise Security

PRESS RELEASE

Highlights

DENVER--March 24, 2015--ProtectWise exits stealth today to launch a breakthrough cloud-based architecture poised to change the landscape of enterprise network security. ProtectWise leverages cloud economies of scale to deliver a subscription-based service that eliminates blind spots in threat detection, ends alarm fatigue by identifying and prioritizing network threats, and delivers faster and more effective incident response.

The ProtectWise™ Cloud Network DVR, a virtual camera in the cloud, delivers unlimited retention of full-fidelity network traffic, the ability to automatically go back into weeks, months and even years to uncover threats that were previously unknown using the latest intelligence. It also correlates threat detection from proprietary research, machine learning, flow-based traffic algorithms as well as multiple commercial intelligence feeds across its customer base--providing collective security. This is combined with advanced visualization tools that allow for deep-dive forensics and rapid response. The Cloud Network DVR is delivered as a service allowing for rapid deployment, evaluation and time to value, and eliminates the costs associated with appliance-based solutions.

Early adopters of the ProtectWise Cloud Network DVR include more than a dozen companies in media & entertainment, technology, financial services, and healthcare including Universal Music Group.

"ProtectWise leverages the technologies that are revolutionizing enterprise IT--cloud, big data analytics and modern visualization--to effect a game change in enterprise network security," said Arthur Lessard, senior vice president and chief information security officer at Universal Music Group. "Until now, it was a luxury to be able to retain and continuously analyze full packet capture for more than a two week period and it was impossible to automatically play it back for retrospective analysis and detection. ProtectWise has broken this barrier to provide visibility across a complete time horizon, combined with correlated, community-scaled threat detection and powerful visualization to alleviate the complexity of quickly detecting and responding to new threats."

Despite best efforts and billions of dollars invested in security infrastructure, enterprises today are left in the dark, exposed to undetected threats and uncertainty for months at a time. According to the Ponemon Institute's Second Annual Study on Data Breach Preparedness released in September 2014, 43 percent of companies experienced a breach in the prior twelve months. The Mandiant M-Trends 2015 Report found that threats go undetected on corporate networks for an average of 205 days. This is compounded by the challenge of managing a host of uncoordinated point solutions. The 2015 Ponemon Institute Survey: The Cost of Malware Containment found that the average enterprise receives 16,937 malware alerts a week from their IT security products of which only 19 percent are deemed reliable and only 4 percent are investigated.

"In today's post-prevention world, network security's focus is on seeing more, prioritizing threats and responding faster," said Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "ProtectWise puts the emphasis on better visibility and closing the latency between attacks and detection to improve response times. By analyzing security information and network traffic, ProtectWise can correlate security information in a way that eliminates the problem of alert fatigue that plagues today's enterprise security teams."

ProtectWise Raises More than $17 Million in Venture Funding
In addition to the launch of the company's new cloud-based platform, ProtectWise announced it has raised more than $17 million in funding from Crosslink Capital, Trinity Ventures, Paladin Capital Group and Arsenal Venture Partners. The financing will be used to scale business operations and drive continued product development and innovation.

"The network security industry is in need of fundamental re-invention," said Larry Orr, general partner, Trinity Ventures, one of the first investors. "ProtectWise's world class team and novel approach to network security uniquely position it to lead the charge into the future of infrastructure security and we're excited to be part of it."

The company's management team, led by Scott Chasin, former CTO, McAfee, Cloud & Content, is comprised of experts in the security, software-as-a-service, cloud and data science industries from companies including McAfee, IBM, Proofpoint and Mandiant.

"Enterprises today are grappling with Defense in Doubt," said Chasin. "The traditional defense in depth approach has left security professionals with a costly daisy chain of endpoint solutions that provide only a point-in-time view of threats and emit a tidal wave of security alarms with no context or correlation across solutions. By shifting network security to the cloud, we make it possible to leave this outdated, ineffective model of enterprise network security behind."

Security at Scale Cloud Architecture—the Convergence of Cloud, Big Data and Analytics, Community-Scaled Detection
ProtectWise is the industry's first cloud platform for enterprise network security that delivers continuous real-time and automated retroactive threat detection and response based on correlated, community-scaled intelligence and analysis afforded by its cloud form factor.

ProtectWise is built on a highly scalable, secure and efficient cloud-based infrastructure that collects and analyzes data from a number of small, lightweight software sensors that can be deployed anywhere on the corporate network. The sensors use-patent pending technology to optimize and compress network traffic and replay it to the company's cloud platform to provide a single haystack of threat intelligence. The platform retains and continuously analyzes the network data in real-time and retroactively.

"By creating a network memory in the cloud, we're able to provide a time machine for threat detection," said Gene Stevens, CTO and co-founder. "It automatically replays and analyzes stored network traffic whenever new threats emerge to uncover threats that were previously unknown.  This makes it possible to continuously analyze what we observe in the past and the present together to refine and reveal the threats that matter most."

All correlated security information and analytics are fed into the advanced ProtectWise Visualizer. It includes a Heads-Up Display which provides an at-a-glance view of an organization's network security posture, including kill chain analysis and the ability to pivot into a forensic work bench. It includes a Kill Box feature that prioritizes threats, a SitRep tool to provide threat context and reporting as well as easy, intuitive threat search functionality.

To learn more about the benefits of shifting enterprise network security to the cloud, download the Shift to the Cloud eBrief.

To sign-up to try the ProtectWise Cloud Network DVR for free, visit. www.protectwise.com or call 1.855.650.0209.

ProtectWise will be demonstrating its Cloud Network DVR at the RSA Conference, April 20th-24th at Booth #S2820, South Expo Hall, Moscone Center in San Francisco.  To receive a complimentary Exhibit Hall pass, use Expo Pass Code X5EPROTW when registering at www.rsaconference.com.

About ProtectWise
ProtectWise™ is disrupting the network security industry with its Cloud Network DVR, a virtual camera in the cloud that records everything on the network. The service allows security professionals to see threats in real time and continuously goes back in time to discover previously unknown threats automatically. By harnessing the power of the cloud, ProtectWise provides an integrated solution with complete visibility and detection of enterprise threats and accelerated incident response. The Cloud Network DVR delivers unique advantages over current network security solutions, including an unlimited retention window with full-fidelity forensic capacity, the industry's only automated smart retrospection, advanced security visualization, and the ease and cost-savings of an on-demand deployment model. Founded in April 2013, the company is based in Denver with early adopters in media & entertainment, technology, financial services, and healthcare.