- Cybersecurity training startup SecurityAdvisor has raised a $7.3 million Series A round.
- Three coworkers decided to quit their jobs to found the firm after multiple corporate security trainings bored them.
- The mission of the company is: Don't bore people – help them.
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"People hate cybersecurity training," says Sai Venkataraman, CEO of SecurityAdvisor.
And by "people" he means himself and his cofounders, who sat in such corporate trainings while all working at the same company a few years ago, wondering "How is this relevant? And why isn't this more interesting?"
Sure that there had to be a better way, the trio quit in 2018 to create a startup called SecurityAdvisor that announced a $7.3 million Series A funding round led by ClearSky Security on Wednesday. The round, which represents nearly all of the company's funding, earned it a $20.3 million valuation.
The mission of the company is: Don't bore people – help them. SecurityAdvisor's software connects with companies' existing cybersecurity systems to turn risky issues into teachable moments. If a phishing warning is triggered in cybersecurity software, SecurityAdvisor tells the user in a friendly alert, the way driving software warns you when you are drifting into another lane. Quick tutorials immediately show the user what happened, and data sent back to security staff shows them where employees may need more support.
"Security training was always 'don't do this,' instead of 'we're on your side to help you stay out of trouble'," Venkataraman says. "We wanted to change that."
SecurityAdvisor is configurable, and works with other cybersecurity companies – including Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike – to alert employees when they are about to download a suspicious attachment, click on a risky link in an email, or email something proprietary.
"SecurityAdvisor's ability to deliver personalized coaching to build awareness and change user behavior" addresses issues that can be even trickier to keep in mind during remote work, said Peter Kuper, managing partner at ClearSky Security.
Overall, SecurityAdvisor's data shows that its customers have managed to cut in half the number of successful phishing attacks, where employees are lured to click malicious links.
The 25-person company based in Silicon Valley will use the funding to grow the company's product line and expand sales and marketing.
