Today CybSafe, a startup that’s transforming the way organisations manage human cyber risk, today announced an approx. €6.3 million Series A1 round. The round was led by deep tech investors IQ Capital, with participation from Hannover Digital Investments GmbH (HDI Group) and B8 Ventures. This investment comes as a result of the company’s continued momentum, its pioneering use of both data and behavioural science, and the growth of the market opportunity.
The fresh funds will be used to enhance go-to-market capability, deepen technology and research capability, and further disrupt the industry’s approach to managing human risk. Founded in 2017, Cybsafe uses audit data from multiple systems (such as Gsuite & Azure) to help manage human cyber risk. Aiming to transform the industry’s understanding of people-related risk, the team is working on the prediction of human risk before it even materialises.
Cybsafe warns that data breaches are at an all-time high, and that the human aspect of cyber security has never been more important. People are universally recognised as a critical part of the cyber resilience challenge and, as the startup explains, account for 90% of breaches. It’s clear that human security behaviours matter, but most security teams still can’t easily assess the impact their security controls have on user behaviour or cyber risk.
CybSafe is ending this inefficiency and ambiguity by pioneering the use of data to manage human cyber risk. Their platform tracks and measures security behaviour to improve security controls and awareness activities. It also delivers instant, personalised support for users. This approach is more effective than the traditional tick-box approach to security awareness normally reliant on elearning, phishing and videos. Plus, efficacy rates of over 90% for some behaviours prove that they are onto something.
CybSafe is already available in 9 languages and is used by over 350 organisations in 15 countries. The company is focused on expanding its enterprise and mid-market client base and seeks to build on an already impressive customer list that includes Credit Suisse, Air Canada, HSBC and NHS Trusts.
Oz Alashe MBE, former UK Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel and the CEO and founder of CybSafe, explained: “We believe in people. And we passionately believe in the impact data and behavioural science can have on human cyber risk management. Our platform is for organisations who ultimately want to do more than rely just on e-learning and phishing simulations. It’s a platform that can grow with them through to when they are ready to measure security behaviour change.
“The world has changed and so CybSafe is designed to educate, support and assist users. It improves security culture in a way that can be measured and gives unparalleled insights in a way that allows our customers to pre-empt security problems. We’re making it easy to manage human cyber risk. And we’re delighted to have incredible investors that support our vision for a safer and better digital world for all people.”
Caroline Banseraj, Chief Operations Officer, Global CISO Office at Credit Suisse, said: “We continue to benefit from CybSafe’s reporting insight and innovative approach to managing people risk. Their technology has transformed the way we support our people, meet our regulatory obligations and reduce people-related risk. CybSafe’s clear focus on human cyber risk reduction rather than just “awareness” makes them a natural partner for us, and many other financial institutions like us”.
Kerry Baldwin, Managing Partner at IQ Capital, commented: “CybSafe’s data modelling of employee security behaviours and habits is game-changing. They are transforming the security industry by pioneering the use of data to address the human aspect of cyber security. It’s an area that has been under-served to date. Leveraging proprietary and third-party data – and robust behavioural psychology – their risk-models will enable security teams to predict areas of user-related vulnerability, and the platform will deliver personalised interventions. They are at the forefront in this data space and have built one of the UK’s highest-potential cyber security companies. We’re excited to lead the funding round and be part of this growing movement of change-makers focused on human cyber risk.”
