CYRISMA, which offers an all-in-one cybersecurity platform to MSPs and MSSPs, now has millions more to work with as it looks to expand its offerings and push deeper into global markets.
The six-year-old company this week announced a $7 million Series A funding round, led by Blueprint Equity, along with SaaS Venture and Golden Ventures. Sheldon Lewis of Blueprint Equity will join CYRISMA’s board of directors.
The money will help CYRISMA ensure that its unified risk management platform will keep pace with a rapidly changing cyberthreat environment and get the word out about its capabilities, according to CEO Oliver Downward.
“The threat landscape, digital trends, and MSPs’ and MSSPs’ requirements evolve quickly,” Downward told MSSP Alert. “With more funds, we can ensure CYRISMA continues to evolve along with the changing risk and compliance environment.”
As an example, he pointed to the recent expansion of the platform’s compliance features for CYRISMA’s governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solution, adding that an integrated strategic and tactical compliance platform has been a dire need at a time of tightening regulations and increasing digital risk.”
An All-in-One Platform
The company’s platform is designed to give MSPs and MSSPs a complete risk assessment and mitigation portfolio in a single place. Features include everything from dark web monitoring and vulnerability management to risk mitigation, cybersecurity compliance, and cyber-risk assessment reporting. It’s designed for a world where there not only is more cyber risks but one in which those risks are growing and are increasingly sophisticated.
“Cyberthreats are only going to increase as organizations worldwide move operations to the digital domain,” Downward said. “Cloud computing and digital transformation initiatives have been adopted with much gusto and speed over the past decade, but cybersecurity has not kept pace. It is often an afterthought, even for larger organizations. Blurring network boundaries and remote work have led to extended attack surfaces, with very little visibility into the risk. This has exposed organizations to an increasing array of threats.”
Bad actors are quickly exploiting new attack vectors, are raking in millions of dollars, and dark web marketplaces are highly organized, he said, adding that the ultimate target for most threats – like ransomware, phishing, and fraud – is sensitive data. Companies need to protect the data for myriad reasons, including compliance with the growing number of government regulations.
Generative AI Makes the Scene
The acceleration of innovation and adoption of generative AI is making this more difficult for organizations. Not only are threat groups increasingly using the emerging technology to hone their malicious code and attacks – the use of generative AI is helping to make phishing emails seem more legitimate – but organizations are also bringing it into their operations.
“Like with cloud computing and large-scale digital transformation initiatives before this, there is the fear that organizations may adopt GenAI while neglecting the associated data security risks,” Downward said. “It doesn’t have to be like that. We can prevent such a situation by ensuring that the data accessed, handled, and generated by AI platforms is properly managed and secured.”
Companies can also ensure they’re ready to adopt generative AI before deploying it on a large scale. CYRISMA, in April, added the Microsoft Copilot Readiness Assessment tool to its Microsoft 365 Data Scanning capabilities.
“As GenAI use increases and evolves, we will continue to introduce new features that enable seamless, secure and compliant AI adoption,” Downward said. “This can be a key differentiator for MSPs and MSSPs protecting organizations eager to leverage the transformational potential of AI.”
Pricing Models Make Use Easier
CYRISMA differentiates from others, like Qualys and Tenable, is by including all of its features in a per-endpoint usage licensing model. There’s also a consumption-based pricing model, which he said eliminates concerns about committing to rigid pricing.
The platform breaks down complex cyber-risk information into understandable data points and graphics, dashboards tell organizations the value of their data, and a residual risk calculator shows how they can reduce their risks by adding other security measures.
“This makes it very straightforward for MSPs to communicate the value of effective cybersecurity controls to non-technical business leaders and decision makers,” Downward said. “We’ve thought about the impact of cyber risk on the bottom line from the time CYRISMA was conceived and have made this information very, very easy for anyone to see and understand.”
Going Even More Global
The influx of money also will allow the Rochester, New York-based company to grow its global reach and brand awareness, he said. Its platform already is used in countries ranging from the United States and Canada to South Africa, Australia, and others, but the CEO said he wants to target growing markets in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.
“To increase brand awareness, we will be expanding our marketing efforts both digitally and at industry events,” he said. “However, we are trying to do this strategically, focusing on initiatives that provide good ROI and testing and refining smaller campaigns before we scale them up.”
