Huntress raises $18 million to detect and remediate cyberthreats

According to a recent study published by the University of Maryland, hackers attack every 39 seconds (or about 2,244 times a day), and they’re often successful. The average time to identify a breach in 2019 was 206 days, at which point the cost could be in excess of $3.92 million.

In pursuit of a solution that remediates cyberthreats facing managed service providers and value-added resellers, three entrepreneurs — former U.S. Air National Guard cyber warfare operator Kyle Hanslovan, National Security Administration cyber veteran Chris Bisnett, and security engineer John Ferrell — cofounded software-as-service (SaaS) cybersecurity provider Huntress in 2015. Now, after growing the number of endpoints it protects to over half a million across more than 1,000 customers, Huntress today announced that it’s secured capital to accelerate its engineering and development efforts as it expands to additional market segments and geographies.

Huntress’ series A raise was led by ForgePoint Capital, which contributed $18 million. It brings the company’s total raised to nearly $20 million following seed rounds totaling $1.8 million, CEO Hanslovan said. “[W]e saw firsthand how attackers develop persistence in systems, either waiting for the opportune moment to attack or selling access as part of a full-fledged business model,” he said. “We wanted to make threat detection available to small businesses, who are under attack just as much as large enterprises. We call it cybersecurity for the 99%. We believe that the best way to effectively reach these businesses is by enabling and empowering the channel.”

Huntress’ cofounders conceived of the business while supporting various private and government cyber defensive and offensive operations. Hanslovan previously cofounded the defense consulting firm StrategicIO and actively participates in Black Hat and Def Con. Bisnett, who’s also a recognized Black Hat participant, cofounded LegalConfirm, which facilitated the transfer of confirmation letters between attorneys and auditors. As for Ferrell, he spent over 15 years in a consultant role with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Justice, and has participated in Def Con hacking challenges.

The company’s product collects and analyzes metadata about apps scheduled to execute when a computer boots up or a user logs in. An agent inventories those apps and sends data back to an analysis engine, which taps algorithms to discover outliers in the data set, taking into account file reputation, frequency analysis, and other factors. When an anomaly is detected, Huntress delivers remediation recommendations into ticketing systems to affected members of the organization.

According to Hanslovan, Huntress — which he claims can be deployed to as many as hundreds of endpoints in less than 10 minutes using existing remote monitoring management software — has discovered over 12,000 data breaches to date.

Competition is fiercer than ever in a cybersecurity segment that’ll soon be worth $300 billion, according to Global Market Insights. There’s IntSights, TrapX Security, CybelAngel, and Deep Instinct, all of which take an algorithmic approach to threat detection. That’s not to mention San Francisco-based ZecOps, which recently nabbed $10.2 million for its tech that automates analysis and response to cyberattacks, and Trinity Cyber, whose threat-combating suite combines detection with “adversary inference.” Note be outdone, there’s Lacework, which protects cloud environments from data breaches.