Mimecast Announces Acquisition of Elevate Security

Mimecast Announces Acquisition of Elevate Securitys your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!As one of their earliest investors, we extend our congrats to the Elevate Security team on their acquisition by Mimecast.

LEXINGTON, Mass., Jan. 4, 2024 – Mimecast Limited (Mimecast), an advanced email and collaboration security company, today announced its acquisition of Elevate Security, a provider of human risk management solutions. The acquisition strengthens Mimecast’s offerings by providing proactive insights and deeper visibility into human behaviors and risk, helping customers better protect the digital workplace. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“People, communications and data are core to every organization and artificial intelligence has accelerated cyber criminals’ ability to exploit these essential elements for their own gain,” said David Raissipour, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Mimecast. “People are historically the largest vulnerability in an organization but can also be the strongest line of defense if given the right tools and education. That’s our goal with this acquisition and core to our work – manage risk by understanding human behavior in the context of a complex environment and then acting on it.”

The Elevate Security® security platform has the flexibility to ingest human behavior and context data from a range of sources. It then flags high-risk people using a precision risk scoring algorithm. Combined with tools such as Mimecast’s Awareness Training, these capabilities can help drive targeted intervention and training that reduces overall risk and exposure for companies. 

The capabilities that Elevate Security’s technology powers combined with Mimecast’s portfolio of products, demonstrates Mimecast’s continued commitment to leading customers through the next generation of human risk management.

“Elevate Security prides itself on being one of the first human risk platforms to help organizations identify high-risk people and automate responses and safeguards, and we have long admired Mimecast’s commitment to changing user behavior to enhance protection,” said Robert Fly, CEO and Co-Founder Elevate Security. “We have no doubt that our combined strengths will help break new ground that changes the security conversation.”  

Mimecast will continue to maintain and support the existing Elevate Security customer base. The integration process has begun and customers can expect to start seeing some of the new technology integrated into Mimecast products in upcoming quarters. 

https://www.mimecast.com/resources/press-releases/mimecast-acquires-elevate-security/

Longtime Innovator and Entrepreneur Launches Hack Factory

The Hack Factory will focus on accelerating disruptive innovation in the Washington DC region.

Longtime DC-area resident and entrepreneur Matt Devost has launched the Hack Factory, a startup studio and growth accelerator designed to launch new business endeavors and support the local startup ecosystem. The new initiative will be located in the Reston Town Center and will focus on building an environment for new entrepreneurs custom-tailored to their unique requirements.

As a start-up studio, Hack Factory will launch companies based on new ideas and engage in rapid technology prototyping to enable disruptive solutions for a variety of complex problems and opportunities. The initial focus of the studio will be on cybersecurity, AI and data science, blockchain/Web3, and dual use technologies.

Established companies or new ideas looking for that extra boost can participate in the Hack Factory growth labs for meaningful mentoring, growth and strategy advisory, and networking support. The lab will provide capital, co-working space, and access to on-site experts depending on each company’s specific needs.

The Hack Factory will also build a local brainstorming community that brings together the hackers, entrepreneurs, disruptors, technologists, and creators for unique events on a variety of issues.

“The disruptive innovation that occurs over the next decade will be more impactful than the past 50 years combined,” noted Hack Factory founder Matt Devost. “This initiative is designed to accelerate that innovation in the D.C. area, which is a natural hub for technical entrepreneurship and has a unique innovation DNA that differentiates it from Silicon Valley and other startup hubs around the country.”

For curated co-working participants, the space features modern amenities like sit-stand desks, gigabit ethernet access, conference and Zoom rooms, and a fully stocked caffeine and snack bar.

ABOUT THE HACK FACTORY

The Hack Factory was founded by long-time DC area entrepreneur Matt Devost who is currently the CEO of OODA LLC (www.ooda.com). Over the past two decades, Matt has been a founder or executive at firms like FusionX, Accenture, iSIGHT Partners, the Terrrorism Research Center, iDEFENSE, and Tulco Holdings, as well as serving as an investor, advisor, or board member for dozens of companies.

For more information visit www.hackfactory.com or email hello@hackfactory.com.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221004005007/en/Longtime-Innovator-and-Entrepreneur-Launches-Hack-Factory—A-Startup-Studio-and-Growth-Lab

The Billion Dollar Server

As technology enthusiasts, we have self-hosted websites and blogs for over 20 years. The site www.terrorism.com site was originally run from a server on Matt Devost’s basement coffee table, but we long ago migrated to a proper hosting environment in a friend’s rack at a major data center in Ashburn, VA.

Over the years, we’ve often offered to host a new site on the server for a friend, start-up we are advising, or non-profit/community organization. When contemplating the value of the companies that were first hosted on the server, we realized that it exceeded one billion dollars, thus making this little Dell server a “billion dollar server”.

The list of companies hosted on the box thus far include:

  • FusionX (acquired by Accenture)
  • iSIGHT Partners dev site (acquired by FireEye for $275m)
  • Carbon Black ($1.6b IPO)
  • Terrorism Research Center, Inc. (acquired by EP Investments)
  • Terrorism Early Warning Group Collab (pre-cursor to DHS Fusion Centers)
  • HomelandSecurity.com
  • FedCyber conference
  • OODA LLC
  • Kyrus Technology
  • Pedaling for Patriots (raised over $1m for charity)
  • Great Leap Brewing (one of China’s most popular micro-breweries)
  • Technical Security Countermeasures Corp
  • Disruptive Solutions LLC
  • Opsurv

A pretty decent run for our humble server. Want to be next?