Darktrace Shares Business Momentum Update and Four Key Cyber Security Observations for APAC Organisations in 2016

SINGAPORE, Jan. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Darktrace, the leader in Enterprise Immune System technology, today announced strong business momentum in 2015, which includes the expansion of operations in the APAC region beyond Singapore and Japan to include Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand and South Korea, as well as new customers, key industry accolades and involvement in cyber security trade missions with the British government.

Darktrace, valued at more than US$100 million following US$22.5 million in Series B funding from venture capital firm Summit Partners in July, has now seen its Enterprise Immune System technology adopted by more than 250 organisations across the world.

Latest global customers include Macrosynergy Partners, a London-based hedge fund manager; Irwin Mitchell LLP, one of the largest UK law firms; Open Energi, a UK-based energy company; one of the world's leading games and interactive entertainment companies headquartered in APAC; and one of the three largest telecommunications companies in the United States.

Across the APAC region, more than 80 organisations are currently deploying Darktrace's Enterprise Immune System appliance, which incorporates fundamental new mathematics and machine-learning technology from the University of Cambridge to analyse network, device and user behaviour and detect anomalous activity within organisations' networks in real-time.

"2015 has been an exciting year for us in the APAC region," said Sanjay Aurora, Managing Director, Darktrace APAC. "We started and scaled the regional business from ground up, going from one employee in our regional headquarters in Singapore to 25 employees in eight countries in the space of nine months. Just last week, Kyocera Communication Systems Co., Ltd. (KCCS), an IT service provider subsidiary of Kyocera, a multinational electronics and ceramics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto; a New Zealand based bank with more than 20 branches nationwide; and a global energy and commodities trading company came on board as regional customers. As we continue to demonstrate our Immune System technology's strong Proof of Value, we expect our regional footprint to continue on a similar growth trajectory in the months ahead."

Since being recognised as a Technology Pioneer by The World Economic Forum in August, Darktrace recently added a Gold Stevie® Award in the New Product & Technology category at the 13^th Annual American Business Awards; Best Enterprise Data Protection Innovation, Network Security Solution and Start-up of the Year accolades at the 7^th Annual 2015 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards; and the 2015 TechCities Award to a growing list of industry accolades.

The company has also been actively involved in cyber security trade missions, with Nicole Eagan, CEO, Darktrace accompanying UK government officials to Southeast Asia in July and Mexico in November to discuss the protection of critical national infrastructure.

"We are extremely proud of the progress we've made in 2015," said Nicole Eagan, CEO, Darktrace. "As governments across the world make cyber security a top priority, growing adoption, industry recognition and involvement in trade missions are endorsements of our achievements in the field, which contribute to and align with public and private sector goals of incorporating new technologies to improve the state of the world. In 2016, we look forward to further enhancing our Immune System technology and helping to protect more organisations in today's fast-moving and sophisticated online threat environment."

Based on industry observations and interactions with customers and partners across the APAC region, Sanjay Aurora, Managing Director, Darktrace APAC, shares four key cyber security observations for organisations in 2016:

1. Digital Transformation Both a Business Opportunity and Business Risk

In 2016, APAC organisations will continue to embrace digital transformation - from network-connected smart TVs, photocopiers and air-cons in the boardroom for greater convenience, to the wider adoption of virtualisation and cloud, which enables employees to work anytime and anywhere, using smartphones, tablets and even smart watches[1].

Smart City initiatives in China, India and Singapore, alongside established projects like Songdo in South Korea, will drive a significant increase in the number of connected units or devices across APAC, which is expected to increase from 3.1 billion to more than 8.6 billion by 2020[2]. This presents organisations with both a business opportunity and business risk.

"Connected units or devices in industrial zones, office parks and shopping malls will no doubt improve efficiency, as well as reduce the cost of energy, spatial management and building maintenance, but this will come at the cost of increased vulnerability," said Sanjay Aurora, Managing Director, Darktrace APAC. "Therefore, the most urgent concern is how to conduct business while maintaining the current levels of risk management, as networks become more open and complex, and more devices become interconnected. Businesses are expected to be able to keep information safe within flexible structures, but at the same time, they can no longer completely 'fortify' their online environments."

"Cloud servers, for example, will remove some risks relating to the build and configuration of a large numbers of servers and their ongoing maintenance. However, the cloud also allows mistakes to be made at an unprecedented scale and magnitude. A recent error that exposed more than a million healthcare records reminds us that using the cloud without proper cyber security safeguards can result in widespread damage," added Mr. Aurora.

2. Insider Threat the Most Significant and Potentially Damaging Risk in 2016

As attackers increasingly obtain legitimate credentials from employees, customers, suppliers or contractors and exploit network access in ways that are difficult to predict, insider threat is likely to be the most significant and potentially damaging risk in 2016. Industry reports have also revealed a surge in cyber espionage across Southeast Asia in the first half of 2015, as the region becomes a larger economic player on the global stage.

"The US Office of Personnel Management hack in June and the recently reported VTech hack are sharp reminders that attackers are having an impact on trusted organisations at scales almost unimaginable. These incidents have shown us yet again that once perimeter defences have failed, many organisations remain blind to in-progress attacks for long periods of time, until the business and reputational damage becomes impossible to contain," said Mr. Aurora.

"We have also observed breaches within organisations that have gone unnoticed for up to 200 days, before the vulnerability was brought to light. On that note, companies need to accept the new reality - the threat is, by default, inside organisations, and must be kept in check by continual monitoring and advanced detection," added Mr. Aurora.

3. Machine-learning Key to Businesses' Pursuit of Proactive Cyber Security

According to Gartner, information security has become a priority for businesses, with worldwide spending on information security projected to reach US$76.9 billion by the end of 2015[3]. The research firm highlighted the emergence of new technologies, which provide contextual information and security intelligence, as key to improving organisations' understanding of today's evolving internal and external threats. Due to talent shortages, more than half of APAC organisations are seeking data-driven security capabilities to plug the gap[4].

"Whether we're talking about start-ups, SMEs, MNCs or public sector organisations, the importance of digital information - as well as the need for pragmatic knowledge in securing systems and data - remain consistent. Across the board, we're seeing a high incidence of threat actors unlawfully claiming and using intellectual property. These threat actors, who are also targeting young and innovative companies, could very well walk away with entire businesses. Cyber threats are not just an expensive annoyance, but can deal devastating blows to creative concepts and competitive positions," said Mr. Aurora.

"In 2015, the capability of machines to provide a full view of and automatically learn what is normal and abnormal within a network, as well as identify in-progress cyber-attacks, has been an important innovation for the cyber defence sector, especially when it becomes humanly impossible to keep up with every component within an organisation's expanding network. In 2016, companies that aim to be successful in proactive cyber security will need to embrace this model of 'immune system' technology, which continually looks out for network abnormalities and alerts the security team in real-time, before serious damage is done," added Mr. Aurora.

4. Security Professionals Must Become More Conversant with Business Risks

Regionally, cyber-attacks are estimated to have cost APAC businesses US$81 billion in the past 12 months[5]. To safeguard revenue, reputation and intellectual property, the issue of cyber security has become a common topic during boardroom discussions, with policies being constantly developed to address ongoing cyber threats. 45 percent of boards now participate in the formulation of security strategy, with that number set to increase in 2016[6].

"In 2015, we saw countries like Singapore and New Zealand introducing cyber security toolkits for SMEs - this is a good step in educating employees beyond the IT department on the sophistication and seriousness of today's threats. In 2016, cyber security will move further toward the boardroom as a corporate issue and become a continual process of risk mitigation, rather than a problem left for the IT department to independently resolve. As a result, security professionals must become more conversant with business risks and business objectives, rather than remain as narrow and deep technological experts," said Mr. Aurora.

About Darktrace:

Named Technology Pioneer by The World Economic Forum 2015, Darktrace is one of the world's leading cyber threat defence companies. Its Enterprise Immune System technology detects previously unidentified threats in real-time, powered by machine-learning and mathematics developed at the University of Cambridge, which analyse the behaviour of every device, user and network within an organisation. Some of the world's largest corporations rely on Darktrace's self-learning appliance in sectors including energy and utilities, financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation. The company was founded in 2013 by leading machine-learning specialists and government intelligence experts, and is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and San Francisco, including offices in Auckland, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington DC.

For more information, please visit http://www.darktrace.com/.

Media Contacts:

Nicholas Tan
Edelman Singapore
Email: Nicholas.Tan@edelman.com|
DID: +65-6494-1579

APPENDIX A - GLOBAL CUSTOMER QUOTES AND BACKGROUNDERS

"At Macrosynergy, we take the protection of our information assets very seriously. We realised that we needed to be ahead of coming regulation in this area and we took proactive steps to improve our understanding of our network activity," said Conor Claxton, Chief Operating Officer, Macrosynergy Partners. "Darktrace shines a light onto our systems, giving us a visual overview of what's really happening 'under the hood,' instead of relying on guesswork. Investors are increasingly demanding best-of-class technology to defend their managed assets, and Darktrace's 'immune system' solution gives us that."

"Darktrace allows us to demonstrate that we are on top of incident management - we are monitoring, we are alerting, we are investigating - and not just small areas of our network, but all of our network," said Mark Vivian, Head of IT Security, Irwin Mitchell LLP. "It's a game changer for us to be able to see threats early or as they are happening. It allows us to take control of a situation."

"Open Energi takes security extremely seriously and we are constantly striving to stay at the forefront of development and best practices in cyber security. We chose Darktrace because it recognises the realities of today's threat landscape. Rather than putting rules in place to prevent specific actions, it focuses its technology on recognising the abnormal and providing intelligence on what is going on throughout the entire network," said Mike Somers, Information Systems and Security Manager, Open Energi. "Darktrace is the only company that uses mathematical analysis and machine-learning to detect potential threats, allowing us to stay ahead of evolving risks."

About Macrosynergy Partners:

Macrosynergy Partners manages a global macro discretionary trading fund, launched in January 2010, which invests in foreign exchanges, rates, credit and equity, and associated derivatives. Dedicated to providing competitive risk-adjusted returns on investment to its clients, it returned 4.1 percent in 2014 and was up 2.2 percent in January. Since its inception, the fund has annualised returns and volatility of 8.8 percent and 7.9 percent respectively. Macrosynergy Partners is run by three former BlueCrest Capital emerging markets portfolio managers and has US$900 million in assets. 

About Irwin Mitchell LLP:

Irwin Mitchell is a top 20 law firm in the UK and amongst the top 50 in Europe, operating out of 11 UK offices with a consulting office in Middlesbrough. Irwin Mitchell currently employs more than 2,400 members of staff and has helped more than one million clients in its 100-year history. The Business Legal Services division is the fastest-growing area of the firm, with an increasing number of global, national and regional companies choosing to work with Irwin Mitchell. In 2012, it became one of the first companies to be approved as an Alternative Business Structure (ABS), allowing it to plan for growth and take advantage of the opportunities created by the changing legal landscape.

About Open Energi:

Open Energi's unique 'Dynamic Demand' technology aggregates energy consumption from across customer sites to provide a fast, flexible solution that is equivalent to a power station. Instead of adjusting supply up or down to meet demand, it adjusts demand up or down to meet supply. This solution, coupled with on-site generation and energy storage technologies means the energy market is no longer a linear value chain driven by fossil fuel production. It is instead becoming bi-directional; creating a new energy economy where energy consumers can both obtain and provide service back to the grid and generate revenue. 'Dynamic Demand' is a 'Demand Response' service unique to Open Energi. It reacts instantaneously to second-by-second changes in the balance between supply and demand on the grid.