CybSafe, a cybersecurity start-up based in the United Kingdom, has raised $28 million in Series B funding. The company’s platform uses behavioral and data science to provide staff with security awareness training.
The company’s goal is to make employees more cybersecurity conscious by changing how they think about security and handle cyber risk.
The SaaS product monitors and tracks cybersecurity behavior to enhance security techniques and awareness. It then assists organizations by providing tailored training, guidance, and support.
Microlearning materials and customized prompts are supplied to users through a mobile app or website.
According to CybSafe, this method allows organizations to look into the security conduct of their workforce. It also covers risk reporting to anticipate security issues and measure progress over time.
The company stated that this strategy offers 40-60% more efficient than the standard method of security awareness.
There are currently over 350 companies using the software platform, including Credit Suisse, Barclays Bank, FNZ Group, and Moody’s.
The “behavioral security” company was founded in 2017 and raised $7.9 million in a Series A funding round last year. This new funding brings the company’s total raised funds to about $40 million.
The company plans to use the funding to speed up product development, bring new talents, and expand the platform’s reach.
This Series B funding round was led by venture capital firm Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Emerald Development Managers and existing investors IQ Capital and Hannover Digital Investments (HDI) GmbH.
CybSafe also has a key partnership with Vodafone, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies.
The company founder and CEO is Oz Alashe MBE; he is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the UK’s Special Forces.
According to Alashe, he felt the need to provide this solution after discovering that “most of the security industry’s attempts to address this challenge centered on ‘tick box’ training or an over-reliance on phishing simulations. Very little of it is grounded in clear scientific evidence or backed up by solid data.”
He added, “We’re building software that will get increasingly effective through the delivery of behavior change micro-experiments. In doing so, we remove the guesswork from security awareness.”
Unfortunately, humans are one of the greatest threats to an organization’s security. The actions that harm the organization are often done without malicious intent.
However, due to a lack of security awareness or careless cybersecurity behaviors, humans can pose a great risk to the organization.
Furthermore, workplace cybersecurity training is usually tedious and repetitive.
When all employees fully comprehend basic security principles, it improves an organization’s ability to avoid security breaches. This is what CybSafe hopes to achieve.
A partner from Evolution Equity Partners, Karthik Subramanian, stated that CybSafe’s platform was designed “with the user in mind.”
Adding that this ensured that the company was “tackling the cause rather than simply treating the symptoms of cyber risk.”