The waning days of summer were still action-packed for the Forgepoint Family, starting with Black Hat 2023. Symmetry Systems announced a $17.7 million funding round. We launched the 2023 CISO Survival Guide, a collaborative effort with Cisco Investments, Night Dragon, and Team8. Santander announced the Santander X Global Challenge with Forgepoint's participation. Tushar Kothari and Julie Albright joined our Advisory Council, while other active members announced exciting new appointments and Alberto Yépez was named a member of the Aspen Global Cybersecurity Group. As always, we thank you for your attention and support. Onwards! 

Moments from Black Hat 2023 including our Executive Security Lunch cohosted by Alberto Yépez, William Lin, Sid Trivedi and Foundation Capital, Uptycs Sip 'N Security Cyber Trailblazers party, CISO dinner with SVB and IQT, plus other catchups in the wild and back at the office where we celebrated our Leos: Don and Casilda.

Financings and M&A.

Symmetry Systems, pioneers in data security posture management, raised $17.7 million in funding. Forgepoint Capital, Prefix Capital, W11 Capital Management, and TSG invested in the round. Read the press release and coverage in TechCrunch.

Advisory Council Updates.

Please join us in welcoming two more distinguished leaders to the Forgepoint Advisory Council: 

Julie Albright, Chief Marketing Officer, runZero; former Chief Marketing Officer, Bishop Fox. Julie is known for innovating marketing strategies that deliver transformative growth in cybersecurity and B2B SaaS companies. Prior to joining runZero, she served as CMO of Bishop Fox and held senior leadership and advisory roles at Resolve Systems, SolarWinds, AlienVault (acquired by AT&T), Asana, and other high-growth SaaS companies. Additionally, Julie spent nearly a decade advising companies for Insight Partners, a leading global venture capital and private equity firm.

Tushar Kothari, Founder and Former CEO now SVP & GM, Attivo Networks – a SentinelOne Company. Tushar is a successful leader in the cyber security and software space. He started and built Attivo Networks as CEO into a leader in Identity Threat Detection and Response and Deception over 9 years which resulted in the company being acquired by SentinelOne (NYSE: S) for $616M. Prior to Attivo Networks, he worked for industry leading companies like Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks and NCR in senior executive positions.

Please join us in congratulating these current members on their moves and appointments: 

SPHERE appointed former Johnson & Johnson CISO Marene Allison to their Board of Directors. Learn more >

Kristine Briggs, former VP, Strategy and Operations, Cisco, is now CEO and Founder of OIC Advisors. Learn more >

ZEROFOX (Nasdaq: ZFOX) appointed former VP, Raytheon, EVP, IQT and NSA Leader Teresa Shea to their Board of Directors. Learn more >

Team Updates.

We launched the 2023 CISO Survival Guide, a joint effort by Cisco Investments, Forgepoint Capital, NightDragon, and Team8. Over 100 CISOs and security leaders shared insights on securing the modern enterprise with a focus on identity, data and collaboration, software supply chain, and cloud security. Read here >

Forgepoint is excited to continue our collaboration with Santander in the Santander X Global Challenge: Cyber Protect the Future, a competition to identify and support innovative cybersecurity startups and scaleups around the world. Deadline: September 28. Learn more >

Alberto Yépez was named a member of the Aspen Global Cybersecurity Group. The group fosters public-private collaboration to address technology and security problems and promote democracy and freedom online. Learn more >

Headlines and Media.

Amid Economic Shifts, an Optimistic Future for Cybersecurity (BankInfo Security) Watch here >

Security Alert: Cybersecurity Startup M&A On Pace For Weakest Year Since 2017 (Crunchbase News) Read here >

From Startup to Public Company, Fundamentals Matter: 5 Questions to Ask When Investing (Nasdaq) Read more >

Embracing ESG To Improve The Future Of Business (Forbes Tech Council) Read more >

Frontline Issues.

Check out Forgepoint TIPS (Threat Intelligence Portfolio Spotlight): our LinkedIn newsletter where we examine the latest cyber trends and events with actionable insights for industry decision-makers. Subscribe here >

TIPS #5: LLMs in software development: the rewards are clear, but what about the risks? Featuring ReversingLabs, SecureCodeWarrior, and Whistic. Read More >

TIPS #6: How should companies protect themselves from infostealers? Featuring Constella Intelligence, Converge Insurance, Huntress, Surefire Cyber, and Uptycs. Read More >

Portfolio Company Updates.

1Kosmos was named a best ID management solution finalist at the 2023 Finovate awards. Learn more >

Bishop Fox's Badge Reader vulnerability research, presented at both Black Hat and Def Con, was featured in an Ars Technica article. Learn more >

Constella CEO and Founder Julio Casal wrote about AI-driven threats in The Achilles Heel of Large Language Models. Read here >

CyberCube released their Global Threat Outlook Q4 2023, analyzing nation-state cyber hot zones. Read here >

Cyberhaven has been recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in Data Security. Read here >

Huntress CEO and Co-Founder Kyle Hanslovan was featured on the Twins Talk Tech Leadership podcast to discuss Huntress' growth and the cybersecurity challenges SMBs encounter. Listen here >

KSOC is working with ActBlue to secure billions in online transactions through kubernetes. Read here >

Lumu was recognized as a Leader in GigaOm Network Detection and Response Radar. Learn more >

NowSecure and Synopsys (#1 in AST ) announced a strategic partnership. Learn about web & mobile security automation in their upcoming September webinar. Learn more>

ReversingLabs Sr. Product Marketing Manager Jasmine Noel wrote about why software secrets leaks should be treated as a major concern by AppSec teams and security leaders in an article for DevOps.com. Read here >

Strata Identity released their State of Multi-Cloud Identity Report 2023- over 75% of enterprises do not know where applications are deployed and who has access. Read more >

Solcyber released a blog post Why Supply Chains are Under Attack. Read here >

Surefire Cyber released a case study about helping a critical care clinic turn a ransomware attack into an opportunity to bolster their defenses. Read here >

Uptycs was recognized by Gartner, 451 Research, Enterprise Strategy Group, and KuppingerCole for its innovation and leadership in cloud and endpoint security and compliance. Learn more >

9/14 8am PT ReversingLabs is hosting a webinar Threat Research Round-Up: Unpacking The Latest PyPI and NPM Supply Chain Attacks. Register here >

9/14 10am PT Strata Identity and Trusona to are hosing an Orchestration Kitchen webinar on adding passkeys to non-standard apps. Register now >

9/17-9/20 CyberCube will be attending the WSIA Annual Marketplace event in San Diego. Learn more >

9/19-9/21 KSOC was chosen to be part of TechCrunch Disrupt's 2023 Startup Battlefield event. Register here >

9/21 10am PT 1Kosmos is hosting a webinar 5 Recommendations to Close the Security Gaps in Single Sign-On. Register here >

9/26 11am PT Cyberhaven is hosting a webinar Demystifying DLP: The Blueprint for DLP Program Success. Register now >

9/27 Surefire Cyber Chief Delivery Officer Joe Tarraf will be speaking at the Zywave Cyber Risk Insights Conference about Public Enemy #1: Phishing. Free registration is offered to full-time risk managers and insurance buyers. Register now >

9/28 11am PT Uptycs is hosting a webinar Less Drama, Better Security Data: Unifying Your Cloud and EDR Solutions. Register here >

10/1-10/4 Bishop Fox will be attending the FS-ISAC Summit in Orlando and presenting on Attack Surface Management capabilities. Stop by booth #45. Learn more >

10/4 SolCyber is attending Data Connectors Seattle. Use Code SOLCYBERVIP for free registration. Register Now >

10/11 NowSecure is hosting NowSecure Connect 2023: Stranger Vulns 2, the mobile security and privacy virtual event of the year. Featuring expert sessions on mobile appdev, appsec, DevSecOps, privacy, compliance, iOS, Android and more. Register here>

ON DEMAND Constella and Maltego co-hosted a webinar Unmask Cybercriminals’ Real Identities. Watch now >

ON DEMAND Huntress hosted their latest Tradecraft Tuesday webinar Understanding Evil: Reverse Engineering. Watch here >

Portfolio Company Jobs.

Looking for your next career opportunity or know someone who is? Browse or share our portfolio company job board, with nearly 200 open roles across 30 innovative startups.