Security news this week includes research from Avast. Partnerships were the most common announcements, with LogRhythm, Ivanti, Sophos and Sycope all sharing news. Check Point Software Technologies and Qualys issued strong Q1 results, both showing growth.
There were also several appointments, with Check Point Software Technologies and Sophos sharing news about new leaders.
Avast
The Avast Q1 2023 Threat Report indicates a significant increase in cyberattacks exploiting trust in established tech brands Microsoft and Adobe. Phishing and smishing attacks also rose by 40%
Jakub Kroustek, Avast Malware Research Director, said, “If you think your data has no value, then why would scammers spend so much time trying to steal your data if it’s worthless? The truth is that anyone can be affected and it is important to stay vigilant and use proper protection. Unfortunately, scammers have made it nearly impossible to take any message as face value – all communications, whether seemingly from a friend, boss, or household brand, have potential to be fraudulent.”
Check Point
Check Point Software Technologies announced its Q1 2023 results.
- Total Revenues: $566 million, a 4% increase year over year
- Security Subscription Revenues: $228 million, a 13% increase year over year
- Deferred Revenues: $1,797 million, an 8% increase year over year
- GAAP Operating Income: $200 million, representing 35% of total revenues
- Non-GAAP Operating Income: $238 million, representing 42% of total revenues
- GAAP EPS: $1.52, a 17% increase year over year
- Non-GAAP EPS: $1.80, a 15% increase year over year
Gil Shwed, Founder & CEO of Check Point Software Technologies, commented, “We are pleased to report good financial results with 15% growth in non-GAAP EPS and 13% growth in security subscription revenues. This double-digit growth was driven by our CloudGuard and Harmony E-mail product families. The economic slowdown has resulted in extended product sales cycles, while recurring revenues were healthy and reached over 80% of total revenues for the first time.
“Our Infinity platform revenue grew over 140% during the quarter, underscoring the strength of the platform as the future of cyber security. The Infinity platform implements the key essential principles of effective cyber security – the 3 Cs: Comprehensive, Consolidated and Collaborative security.”
Check Point Software Technologies announced the appointment of Sherif Seddik as President of EMEA Sales. He assumed the role from Thorsten Freitag, who has resigned but will continue to work for Checkpoint on a project basis.
Rupal Hollenbeck, President at Check Point Software, praised the leadership transition, stating, “Sherif’s extensive experience in the IT industry, combined with his proven track record of driving business growth, makes him the ideal leader to take on this critical role at Check Point. We are appreciative of Thorsten’s contributions to our EMEA business and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Europol
Europol was involved in an operation that arrested 288 dark web vendors spanning nine countries across three continents. Operation SpecTor comprised actions in Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Switzerland.
Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s Executive Director, said: “Our coalition of law enforcement authorities across three continents proves that we all do better when we work together. This operation sends a strong message to criminals on the dark web: international law enforcement has the means and the ability to identify and hold you accountable for your illegal activities, even on the dark web.”
Ivanti
Ivanti has expanded its partnership with BT Business, the UK’s leading telecommunications and network provider. The extended partnership is marked by the launch of Ivanti SME Secure UEM, which is now included as part of EE’s business plans at no charge.
Ivanti SME Secure UEM is now available so that SME and mid-market-sized businesses can simplify their inventory, configure and manage mobile devices easily, create profiles and enforce restrictions through security policies. EE’s Professional Services will also be an optional chargeable extra to help customers correctly install, configure and deploy Ivanti’s UEM and threat defence solutions.
BT Business and Ivanti have partnered for over a decade to provide SME customers with the tools they need to protect an increasingly mobile and distributed workforce. This solution by Ivanti and BT Business helps employees of small and medium enterprises stay secure and productive on any mobile device across mixed estates (iOS and Android) and is great for BYOD environments.
Srinivas Mukkamala, Chief Product Officer at Ivanti, said, “At Ivanti, we build our solutions with a security mindset. We recognize the challenges that small and medium enterprises face with an expanding IT estate, a growing number of vulnerabilities, and threat actors who are weaponizing vulnerabilities at the speed of light. That is why we develop solutions that take the complexity out of cybersecurity, along with removing barriers so that our customers save time, money, and resources when they need to remediate a vulnerability in their environment.”
LogRhythm
LogRhythm has partnered with eFinance, a subsidiary of eFinance Investment Group, to rapidly detect and mitigate threats in Egypt’s digital payment security ecosystem with LogRhythm SIEM, LogRhythm’s security information and event management (SIEM) solution. LogRhythm has partnered with eFinance to secure operations across the entire Egyptian payment network and establish its reputation as a trusted fintech provider throughout the region.
Mazen Adnan Dohaji, General Manager and Vice President, IMETA at LogRhythm, commented, “The fintech sector is a massive target for threat actors as they continue to launch attacks on industries that give them the biggest pay-out. Egypt must strengthen its security posture to keep consumers safe and maintain trust within the digital economy. Our SIEM solution is providing the tools for eFinance to detect security issues before they can cause damage.
“As the digital payment ecosystem continues to grow, creating a safer financial environment for businesses, governments and customers is more important than ever. We’re working in partnership with eFinance to transform digital payment security and create better financial customer experiences throughout the region.”
ManageEngine
ManageEngine announced that its identity security solution, ADSelfService Plus, now offers offline MFA for Windows. This new feature allows organizations to secure their data with next-gen authentication methods that prevent unsecured access to remote machines even when disconnected from the internet or when the authentication server is inaccessible.
Parthiban Paramasivam, director of product management ADSelfService Plus, commented, “Remote and hybrid work models introduce new attack surfaces, are susceptible to modern attack strategies, and need to be secured using modern security measures.
“ADSelfService Plus enables remote work by ensuring authorized, secure access to the enterprise network, resources, and the data held in them. Its offline MFA feature mandates identity verification beyond a mere password and expands the security perimeter to physical devices that may be accessed offline, such as the laptop of a senior executive who is on the road or an engineer at a remote client site.”
Offline MFA is available immediately in the latest edition of ADSelfService Plus as part of the Endpoint MFA add-on for its Standard and Professional editions. Pricing for the Standard and Professional editions starts at $595 and $1,195, respectively. Pricing for the Endpoint MFA add-on of ADSelfService Plus starts at $395 annually for 500 users. ADSelfService Plus offers a Free edition for up to 50 users.
Qualys
Qualys announced its Q1 2023 results. Sumedh Thakar, president and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to report another quarter of healthy revenue growth, strong profitability, and cash flow generation. In Q1, we continued to strengthen our category leadership with the launch of our inaugural 2023 TruRisk Research Report, providing data-backed insights and actionable steps for organizations to reduce cyber risk and increase organizational resilience.
“As we continue to innovate and further expand our cloud platform capabilities, we believe we will be uniquely positioned as the fundamental cybersecurity risk management platform to solve modern security challenges at scale and drive durable profitable growth.”
Key figures included:
- Q1 2023 $130.7 million, up 15% year over year
- GAAP gross profit in Q1 2023 was $103.7 million, up 16% year over year.
- GAAP operating income for Q1 2023 was $35.2 million, up 5% year over year.
- Operating cash flow for Q1 2023 was $66.8 million, down 15% year over year
Sophos
Sophos has appointed Pat Sheridan as senior vice president of Americas sales. Sheridan was previously vice president of Americas sales at Trellix. Bill Robbins, president of worldwide field operations at Sophos, commented, “Pat will be instrumental in accelerating growth of Sophos’ rapidly growing Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and incident response services, as well as our more than $1 billion endpoint, network, email, and cloud security product portfolio, in the Americas.
“Pat is an accomplished sales leader with deep cybersecurity expertise and nearly three decades of experience delivering high-performing sales operations and strategy. He’ll be a tremendous asset to Sophos and our frontline channel partners and collective customers.”
Sophos partnered with Measured Analytics and Insurance (“Measured”), the AI-powered cyber insurance provider. The new partnership unlocks Measured insurance premium savings for Sophos’ U.S.-based customers in recognition of their strong cyber defences.
Raja Patel, senior vice president of products at Sophos, said, “The caliber of an organization’s cybersecurity defenses in protecting against active adversaries is critically important. Organizations need to properly configure and manage security technologies and also effectively respond to threats – and that requires an expert talent skillset.
“Industry-first threat detection and response capabilities now enable Sophos to meet customers where they are and with exactly what they need to ensure superior security outcomes. This partnership is validation that Sophos security solutions and managed detection and response (MDR) services are industry best, and we’re pleased that our customers can now be rewarded for their commitments to optimizing defences.”
Sycope
Sycope has signed a distributor agreement with UK-based Nuvola. The distribution agreement enables Nuvola to offer Sycope’s products in the represented markets. In addition to the sales process, the distributor provides professional testing, training, installation, implementation, and technical support. While Nuvola operates across Europe, the agreement seems limited to UK and Ireland.
Tadeusz Dudek, CEO of Sycope, commented, “We are proud to announce this new collaboration with Nuvola Distribution. The agreement enhances Sycope’s presence in Europe. I’m convinced that working together with Nuvola we can build successful partnerships and presence in the UK and Ireland.”
