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Phantom Cyber Secures $2.7M Seed Funding

2015-04-15
PALO ALTO, CA, Security software company pioneering a new approach to defeating cyber threats by accelerating and amplifying cyber security operations, today announced the company has secured $2.7 million in seed funding.
Phantom Cyber, a security software company pioneering a new approach to defeating cyber threats by accelerating and amplifying cyber security operations, today announced the company has secured $2.7 million in seed funding from longtime cyber security and enterprise software leaders including Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite Inc. (NYSE:N); John W. Thompson, former CEO of Symantec; Thomas E. Noonan, former CEO of Internet Security Systems (ISS) and John C. Becker, former CEO of Sourcefire. They were joined by venture capital firms Foundation Capital and Rein Capital. These marquee investors' capital and strategic support add significant resources and momentum to Phantom Cyber's development over the past year of an innovative and integrated new platform for security first responders, making defenders smarter, faster and stronger through automation.

'The Phantom Cyber platform is being built to empower security teams through a comprehensive view of the digital battlefield and lightning-fast automated responses to the most severe threats facing critical systems and sensitive data'

As commercial and government organizations suffer heavy volumes of diverse attacks at unprecedented speeds, complex piecemeal security platforms - combined with a drought of skilled security experts - too often compound most organizations' capacity to respond. With enterprise security resources stretched to the limit, security operations staffs are looking for a force-multiplier to match attackers' diverse skills and resources at machine speed through automation.

'Further exacerbating the issue of keeping up with attacks is the changing composition of targets and the complexity of sprawling layers of security tools that keep security teams hard-pressed to 'see' a big and clear picture, let alone act in time,' said Robert Rodriguez, chairman of the Security Innovation Network - SINET - furthering public and private sector collaboration in fighting cyber threats. 'This solution offers the opportunity for businesses to rethink their security foundation and stop relying on overmatched, time-consuming manual processes when 'time' is what defenders have least of.'

'The Phantom Cyber platform is being built to empower security teams through a comprehensive view of the digital battlefield and lightning-fast automated responses to the most severe threats facing critical systems and sensitive data,' said Phantom Cyber founder and CEO, Oliver Friedrichs. 'Time and again, the root cause for data breaches and break-ins at even the best security-resourced organizations is not ignorance of risk or a lack of security controls - but a chronic inability to take quick, decisive action once an attack is underway. With Phantom Cyber, we are offering a centralized, open and powerful platform organizations can use to close these gaps by orchestrating and automating their defenses with an incremental process, matching their risk tolerance and existing security investments.'

'Today, the big stakes in cyber security are all about taking action - faster than even the most experienced human minds can imagine,' said John W. Thompson, former Chairman and CEO of Symantec. 'The Phantom Cyber team has quite a few accomplished innovators who have ushered in repeated changes in how to find and eliminate threats. The bold new approach envisioned by this team is what has me excited about their vision for tackling today's ever increasing cyber threats.'

By orchestrating key stages of security operations from prevention to triage and resolution, Phantom Cyber's platform is being designed to automate routine and urgent actions before and during attacks - slashing response times and dramatically increasing security efficiency and effectiveness. Unlike time-consuming manual tools or closed solutions that limit scale and expandability, Phantom Cyber will be a uniquely open and extensible automation, coordination and defense platform that exponentially reduces customers' risk by improving security teams' response time and performance.

Scaling to match the breadth of customers' existing security investments, Phantom Cyber's platform will help security teams operate at a level greater than the sum of their parts. By codifying operational workflows and 'rules of engagement,' along with approval authorities and escalations, the platform empowers cyber first responders to bring their experience and instincts to bear more quickly, making faster decisions with greater command and confidence.

Phantom Cyber executives will be attending RSA Conference 2015 (booth #S2825) to brief media, analysts and prospective customers on the company's vision and technology strategy. The company's software, Phantom Enterprise, is currently undergoing testing by design partners and will be available more broadly to qualified beta-testers in mid-2015. Phantom Enterprise is anticipated to be commercially available in Q4 2015. For more information and to register to receive Phantom Cyber news announcements, visit www.phantomcyber.com.

About Phantom Cyber:

Phantom Cyber automates enterprise security operations. In the face of problematic trends including the dramatic increase and volume of attacks, severe shortages in qualified personnel, growth in the diversity and complexity of IT security environments and unforgiving consumers, investors and regulators holding management to task for breaches, Phantom Cyber arms security operations with the automation and orchestration solutions that ready them to defend their company's business. Phantom Cyber was founded by enterprise security veterans Oliver Friedrichs and Sourabh Satish who have helped propel companies like Symantec, Sourcefire, Cisco and others to success. For more information visit www.phantomcyber.com.
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