Cybercrime Analytics Platform SpyCloud Raises $110 Million in Series D Funding

Cybercrime Analytics Platform SpyCloud Raises $110 Million in Series D Funding
  • Cybercrime analytics platform SpyCloud raised $110 million in Series D funding last week.
  • The funding will help the company accelerate innovation in key use cases, as well as grow its database of recaptured data.
  • Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, SpyCloud won Best of Show in its Finovate debut in 2017.

Cybercrime analytics platform company SpyCloud has secured a $110 million growth round commitment of primary and secondary capital. The round, a Series D, was led by Riverwood Capital and featured participation from Silverton Partners. New valuation information was not provided. The investment takes the company’s total equity funding to more than $168 million, according to Crunchbase.

SpyCloud offers technology that enables the discovery and recapture of data from the Dark Web in order to better protect businesses from identity-based cyberattacks. Cybercriminals use these stolen employee credentials and consumer session data to attack businesses, individuals, and networks. SpyCloud’s approach to fighting cybercrime differs from traditional threat intelligence strategies by offering a credential monitoring and alert service that directly and proactively finds and recovers stolen assets from threat actors and other sources.

To date, SpyCloud has recaptured more than 450 billion assets, more than 31 billion passwords, and more than 33 billion email addresses. The company’s most recent platform enhancement, unveiled in January, provides what it calls “Post-Infection Remediation.” This protocol gives companies a framework to reset application credentials and invalidate session cookies in the wake of a cyberattack or breach.

In a statement, SpyCloud listed a number of ways the new capital will help fuel the company’s growth. The funding, for example, will enable SpyCloud to accelerate innovation across a number of use cases, including consumer risk and enterprise protection. The company will also be able to grow its database of recaptured malware assets, further develop its analytic capabilities, and add to its list of integrations. The platform is currently integrated with Active Director, Okta, and Tines.

“For the last seven years, we have proven that reacting quickly to identity and authentication exposures is the crucial factor in stopping the cycle of cybercrime,” SpyCloud CEO and co-founder Ted Ross said. “As authentication methods improve, businesses need to adjust their defenses to keep up with criminals’ new behavior. SpyCloud allows you to do just that – and we will continue to illuminate and resolve the most critical risks facing security teams today, stopping attacks they haven’t been able to see coming.”

SpyCloud won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2017. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company was founded in 2016. More than 500 corporations – including half of the Fortune 10 – leverage SpyCloud’s technology to combat ransomware, account takeover, session hijacking, online fraud, and other cybercrimes.


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SpyCloud Unveils its Identity Risk Engine

SpyCloud Unveils its Identity Risk Engine

FinovateFall Best of Show winner SpyCloud has launched its latest solution to combat online fraud. The SpyCloud Identity Risk Engine, unveiled this week, analyzes billions of data recaptured from the dark web to help businesses and financial institutions make faster, more accurate, real-time fraud mitigation decisions.

What’s unique about SpyCloud’s approach to fighting fraud is the company’s focus on identifying credentials that have been exposed during data breaches and are actively being traded in the criminal underground. These exposed credentials are sold to fraudsters on the black market or used by the hackers themselves to steal confidential information, access secure systems, or commit fraud. Because many of these sources of stolen credentials cannot be readily accessed by automated software tools or web crawlers, SpyCloud uses a combination of technical innovation and human intelligence to find and recapture data from online criminal communities. The company also gives businesses and financial institutions access to the kind of authentication systems that will help defend them against cyberattacks that leverage stolen credentials such as account takeover (ATO), identity fraud, and new account fraud.

With the release of its SpyCloud Identity Risk Engine, SpyCloud gives businesses in financial and ecommerce services actionable, predictive fraud risk assessments based on breach data and stolen credentials that have been recaptured from the dark web. The technology combats difficult-to-detect challenges including data harvested by malware and the use of synthetic identities. SpyCloud Identity Risk Engine also gives businesses insight into which customers have the highest risk of account takeover due to risk factors such as exposed credentials or weak password protocols.

Businesses place the Identity Risk Engine at their most critical points of potential fraud (i.e., at account opening, login, transactions, etc.). From there, all that is required is an API query using an email address or phone number. SpyCloud then scans billions of recaptured data points to deliver a risk score that enables businesses to make more accurate fraud decisions. SpyCloud has recaptured more than 145 billion breached assets, more than 30 billion email addresses, and more than 25 billion total passwords. The company’s technology collects 50+ breach sources every week.

Winner of Built In Austin’s Best Places to Work for a second year in a row, SpyCloud was founded in 2016 and made its Finovate debut one year later. The company was featured in Fast Company’s inaugural Next Big Things in Tech roster last fall and, in October, SpyCloud announced a partnership with Houston, Texas-based identity and access management solution provider Identity Automation to help schools fight ransomware threats.

“Preventing ransomware is possible by negating the top attack vector: credentials that have been exposed in data breaches,” SpyCloud SVP of Business Development Cassio Mello explained. “This service gives schools early identification of compromised accounts, enabling them to take action quickly and prevent cyber attacks that leverage recently-breached identity data.”

SpyCloud has raised $58.5 million in funding from investors including Centana Growth Partners, Microsoft’s Venture Fund M12, March Capital, and Silverton Partners. Ted Ross is co-founder and CEO.


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SpyCloud Brings Fight Against Account Takeover to Europe

SpyCloud Brings Fight Against Account Takeover to Europe

One week after being named a Gartner Cool Vendor in Identity Access Management and Fraud Detection, SpyCloud is back in the cybersecurity headlines. The company has forged a partnership with DotForce, a leading value-added distributor for information security solutions in Southern Europe, to help businesses and government agencies in the region fight account takeover (ATO) attacks.

“SpyCloud has the most complete set of breach data assets in the world, making them the best partner to join our fight against account takeovers,” DotForce CEO Zane Ryan said. “These attacks can hit any organization at any time, and they are extremely expensive and time-consuming to resolve. With SpyCloud as our partner, we will be able to help organizations minimize the damage caused by ATO.”

Via the partnership, DotForce will enable its channel partners and managed security service providers (MSSP) to bring SpyCloud’s ATO prevention solutions to their customers. A Finovate Best of Show winner in its FinovateFall debut in 2017, SpyCloud specializes in detection and remediation of compromised accounts, helps identify and monitor supply chain exposure, and accelerates the fraud investigation process. The firm leverages human intelligence, data cleansing, and password cracking techniques to find exposed credentials faster, and has recovered more than 109 billion breach assets since inception.

“Account takeovers happen everywhere – criminals go where the money and data are, regardless of country,” Director of Sales, EMEA at SpyCloud Neill Cooper said. “We’re honored to partner with DotForce to help businesses in Southern Europe get proactive about protecting themselves.” In its statement, SpyCloud added that the cyberattacks and security breaches that are made possible by cybercriminals accessing stolen credentials cost businesses more than $17 billion a year and can continue for years.

SpyCloud’s partnership news comes just months after the company announced a $30 million Series C round that took its total funding to $58.5 million. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, SpyCloud counts Centana Growth Partners, Altos Ventures, March Capital Partners, Silverton Partners, and M12, Microsoft’s venture capital entity, among its investors.


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Cybersecurity Innovator SpyCloud Secures $30 Million

Cybersecurity Innovator SpyCloud Secures $30 Million

Account takeover (ATO) prevention specialist SpyCloud locked in $30 million in Series C funding today. The round, led by Centana Growth Partners, featured participation from all of the company’s existing investors, a list that includes Altos Ventures, March Capital Partners, Silverton Partners and M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund. This week’s funding takes SpyCloud’s total capital to $58.5 million.

“Criminals work together to steal information and find creative ways to monetize it. As a result, even the most careful and sophisticated organizations are vulnerable,” SpyCloud CEO and co-founder Ted Ross said. “SpyCloud will continue to pursue new and innovative ways to stay ahead of criminals and provide solutions that make the internet a safer place for individuals and businesses.”

SpyCloud made its Finovate debut in the fall of 2017, earning a Best of Show award for its exposed credential monitoring and alert service. The company, based in Austin, Texas, finds and recovers stolen and compromised assets that are actively trading on the digital underground, capturing 40 million exposed assets a week using techniques that go beyond web crawlers and other automated solutions.

This spring, SpyCloud partnered with security operations platform ThreatConnect, integrating its database with two of ThreatConnect’s offerings. More recently, the company teamed up with third party risk management platform Privva, and worked with MENA-based information security valued added distributor Spire Solutions,

One of the more interesting partnerships SpyCloud announced this year was a collaboration with Zero Trafficking, a company that provides solutions to combat human trafficking. Taking advantage of the fact that the bad guys are as likely to suffer from the same data breaches and stolen credentials as everyone else, SpyCloud has leveraged its technology to help Zero Trafficking round them up.

“Billions of data assets per year are exposed in breaches, including assets belonging to criminals,” SpyCloud Head of Investigations Jason Lancaster explained. “By drawing on the 100+ billion assets SpyCloud has recovered from third-party breaches, Zero Trafficking can piece together criminals’ digital breadcrumbs to uncover the identities of specific adversaries engaging in human trafficking activity.”


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SpyCloud Integrates with ThreatConnect to Help Stop Account Takeover Attacks

SpyCloud Integrates with ThreatConnect to Help Stop Account Takeover Attacks
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A new partnership between intelligence-driven security operations platform ThreatConnect and account takeover prevention solution provider SpyCloud will help individuals take action during the critical time between credential exposure and account breach.

Two of ThreatConnect’s solutions – its Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) and Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) work jointly to help spot and respond to potential cyber threats. Adding Spycloud’s database of exposed credentials will enable ThreatConnect to more comprehensively scan for personally-identifiable information – email addresses, usernames, passwords, and more – that may be exposed and available for exploitation by cybercriminals and fraudsters shopping for credentials on the dark web.

“Our customers know that poor user password habits put accounts at risk,” ThreatConnect Integrations Product Manager Richard Cody said. “Having access to SpyCloud’s dataset through our platform means they can detect and remediate credential compromises before account takeover attacks begin.”

Austin, Texas-based SpyCloud earned a Best of Show award for its FinovateFall demonstration of its Exposed Credential Monitoring and Alert service. SpyCloud uses human intelligence-gathering strategies to identify and recover stolen assets from threat actors and private sources before they are traded on the dark web. As a result of this approach of going beyond automated solutions and webcrawlers, the company’s technology has resulted in the capture of 40 million exposed assets every week. In addition, SpyCloud also helps protect company employees from future account takeover attacks via its integration into their current authentication system.

“The data we provide to ThreatConnect customers through this partnership will not only allow them to prevent damaging account takeover attacks, but should also give them a better understanding of credential management habits among their employee and customer bases,” SpyCloud Chief Strategy Officer Chris LaConte explained. He added that making password remediation automatic and relying on NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) guidelines for strong, secure passwords are key components of robust cybersecurity and reducing the risk of data breaches.

Last fall, SpyCloud introduced a new suite of automated solutions to support password security maintenance in Microsoft Active Directory. The company has raised more than $28 million in funding, most recently securing $21 million in a round led by Microsoft venture fund, M12. Ted Ross is CEO and co-founder.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Trulioo Accepts Another $53 Million in Funding.
  • Braintri Rebrands as Neontri En Route to U.S. Debut.

Around the web

  • SpyCloud launches new automated tools to support checking and maintaining password security in Microsoft Active Directory.
  • Marketing Technology Insights interviews Arkose Labs VP of Marketing Vanita Pandey.
  • P2Binvestor wins Best Small Business Solution at the 2019 Best of FinXTech Awards.
  • Hired names Akamai a top 10 employer in Boston.
  • INETCO launches INETCO Insight 7, a payment fraud detection platform.
  • Ephesoft and Infor partner to demonstrate new cloud-based document capture solution.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Xignite to Power WealthSimple’s New Stock Trading App.
  • Kony Secures $37 Million in Financing from BMO.
  • Sezzle Raises $30 Million in IPO.
  • Vymo Reels in $18 Million for its Intelligent Sales Assistant.

Around the web

  • Deal sealed: Fiserv completes acquisition of First Data.
  • Visa announces strategic partnership with SME banking service Open.
  • eToro enables retail customers to invest in drone technology via its latest portfolio.
  • iGTB to enhance trade finance operations for two Raiffeisen banks, Niederosterreich-Wien and Landesbank Steiermark.
  • CREALOGIX to power new consumer digital investment platform from MeDirect Group.
  • JP Morgan Chase ends loan origination partnership with OnDeck.
  • ThetaRay brings on Idan Keret as Chief Customer Success Officer.
  • GreenDot offers customers 3% cash back on online and in-app purchases and a savings account paying 3% APY.
  • Fintech Finance interviews Olga Feldmeier, Smart Valor CEO.
  • Redrock Biometrics secures a perfect score in Level 1 Presentation Attack Detection confirmation testing by iBeta.
  • SpyCloud expands into Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Mambu and Salt Edge Team Up to Boost PSD2 Compliance.
  • RightCapital Partners with Wealth Manager CircleBlack.
  • Mastercard Works with P27 to Launch Real Time Payments in the Nordics.

Around the web

  • Product and pricing control solution provider Zafin announces alliance with end-to-end IT services firm DXC Technology.
  • Trade finance and supply chain expert David Hennah joins IGTB.
  • LoanScorecard to powerACORN, the new automated underwriting system from Sprout Mortgage.
  • FinovateFall Best of Show winner SpyCloud takes home top honors at SourceMedia’s 2019 Digital Banking conference.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

SpyCloud Scores $21 Million in Round Led by Microsoft’s M12

SpyCloud Scores $21 Million in Round Led by Microsoft’s M12

Account takeover (ATO) prevention specialist SpyCloud has raised $21 million in funding in a round led by Microsoft’s venture fund, M12. And if there’s one phrase to describe how the company plans to spend the new capital, it’s “we’re hiring.”

SpyCloud announced in a blog post accompanying the funding announcement that it will be adding to its current security research, development, and sales and marketing teams. The Austin, Texas-based company also said it plans to expand to new markets around the globe.

“We are excited and optimistic about what this new round of funding will do for SpyCloud and the world at large,” the post read. “With this money, we are more confident than ever that as criminals scale their methods to collect and weaponize compromised passwords, SpyCloud will be able to go toe-to-toe with even the most sophisticated of them.”

Existing investors Silverton Partners and March Capital Partners also participated in the Series B round, which boosts SpyCloud’s total capital to more than $28 million.

Left to right: SpyCloud Chris LaConte (Head of Business Development) and Tedd Ross (CEO and co-founder) demonstrating the company’s Exposed Credential Monitoring and Alert Service at FinovateFall 2017.

SpyCloud differentiates its cybersecurity offering in a number of ways, such as featuring human experts at the center of its account takeover prevention capabilities rather than relying on an automated solution. The company deploys what it calls “multi-tiered, underground intelligence gathering techniques” to provide a critical additional step in finding stolen credentials before they are sold on the underground markets of the dark web.

The company’s 60 billion asset database of exposed credentials and personally identifiable information (PII) is also a major asset. Last year, SpyCloud recovered and analyzed 3.5 billion sets of online credentials from nearly 3,000 data breaches and other sources from the dark web – including 2.6 billion credential sets with a password. Adding to its development team, the company noted, would enable it to both enhance its password cracking capabilities, as well as add to its API integrations and Active Directory Protection for automated Windows domain protection.

“Passwords and their reuse across personal and work accounts are the leading cause of ATO, one of the most imminent threats to businesses of all sizes,” SpyCloud co-founder and CEO Ted Ross said. “As criminals use more complex, scalable methods to collect and weaponize compromised passwords, organizations need to take proactive measures to prevent, detect, and remediate exposures. SpyCloud meets that immediate need.”

Founded in 2016, SpyCloud demonstrated its Exposed Credential Monitoring and Alert Service at FinovateFall 2017 – winning Best of Show. Last spring, the company announced that it was partnering with fellow Finovate alum Credit Karma, just one month after announcing a $5 million Series A round led by Silverton Partners and March Capital Partners.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • SpyCloud Scores $21 Million in Round Led by Microsoft’s M12.
  • Temenos Partners with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank.
  • Tymebank Goes Live with Core Banking Tech from Mambu.

Around the web

  • NICE Actimize partners with crypto finance company Circle to deploy its market surveillance technology.
  • Silvergate Bank to deploy Finastra’s Total Payments, leveraging the API-enabled solution to support payment processing.
  • Leading Vietnam-based consumer finance firm, FE Credit, chooses Vymo’s AI-powered personal sales assistant.
  • Bambu and CredoLab earn spots on Fintech News Singapore’s 29 Hottest Fintechs in Singapore 2019 roster.
  • GreatHorn announces capability to detect credential theft involving Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite.
  • Identitii joins the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BAIN).

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Fiserv and InComm Partner for Cash Billpay.
  • Unison Raises $40 Million to Promote the American Dream.
  • Munnypot Picks Up Investment from Livingbridge.
  • Five Degrees and BillPro Launch New European Cross Border Banking Service.
  • The ROI of a Finovate Demo.

Around the web

  • Infosys Finacle partners with Santander UK to launch interbank cash management system.
  • Luxoft to use open source blockchain platform Corda from R3.
  • Texas Tech FCU to deploy hardware, software, and services from NCR as it overhauls its customer experience.
  • Fiserv makes its Prologue Credit Loss Manager and risk modeling tools available via the cloud.
  • PYMNTS.com features Best of Show-winning cybersecurity specialist, SpyCloud.
  • American Banker: U.K.’s Revolut teams with Russia’s Qiwi ahead of U.S. launch.
  • Bill.com surpasses $50 billion in business payments processed annually.
  • The Tech Tribune names nCino and Passport among the 10 best tech startups in North Carolina.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Credit Karma Partners with SpyCloud to Add Dark Web Data Monitoring

Credit Karma Partners with SpyCloud to Add Dark Web Data Monitoring

Not long ago, a poster at the Credit Karma Credit Advice forum wrote:

I’ve been seeing links to see if my personal data is on the “dark web.” Is this something Credit Karma can do?

Now we know the answer to that question is “yes.”

Credit Karma has expanded its identity theft monitoring offering to include data from the dark web. Courtesy of a partnership with fellow Finovate alum – and Best of Show winner – SpyCloud, Credit Karma will dramatically increase the number of data breaches it is able to review for its 80 million users. Currently searching 4.5 billion public breaches, the new service will boost the total number of data breaches searched to 13 billion.

Vice President of Data Products Anish Acharya explained to TechCrunch that the decision to offer the dark web data breach search service was important for its users, and that a “pervasive” problem like identity theft from data breaches required a “comprehensive” solution. Credit Karma users can access the dark web monitoring service via the app in the ID Monitoring option in the Settings menu. The service can be accessed online via the Resources tab at the company’s website.

Credit Karma’s move comes less than a year after the company introduced its free identity monitoring service. This service provides users with monitoring, notifications, and advice such as how to report fraud, freeze their credit, or change their passwords. It adds to the free credit monitoring and personalized financial recommendations that has been the Credit Karma’s stock in trade since the company provided its first free credit score in 2008.

“Over the last ten years, you’ve come to rely on us as we continue to look for ways to help you save money and stay on top of your financial identity, and we take that trust seriously,” Credit Karma Product Manager Adam Boender wrote on the company’s blog when the new service was announced last fall. “As part of our mission to be your financial assistant, it made a lot of sense for us to build and provide ID monitoring as data breaches have become more prevalent.”

Last month, Credit Karma announced a $500 million secondary investment from Silver Lake that boosted its valuation to $4 billion. Named to the Forbes Fintech 50 in February, Credit Karma began the year partnering with American Express to offer tax refund advances. Credit Karma is one of Finovate’s earliest alums, demonstrating its technology at FinovateStartup 2009. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and was founded in 2007. Kenneth Lin is CEO.

Making its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 – and earning a Best of Show award – SpyCloud protects businesses and their customers from account takeover (ATO) attacks – a form of cyberfraud that is increasingly common due to the widespread reuse of passwords. The company’s solution protects Windows accounts from takeover automatically and leverages its rich dataset to launch new fraud investigations of potentially exposed customer and employee accounts, including those compromised credentials being actively traded on the dark web.

Founded in 2016, Austin, Texas-based SpyCloud has recovered more than 32 billion breached assets and more than 500,000 C-level executive records. The company’s technology recovers six million credentials a day and more than 50 breached databases per week. Read our feature on SpyCloud from last fall, SpyCloud Spots Stolen Credentials with Deep Dives into the Dark Web.