With $15 million in total funding from 468 Capital, DNX Ventures, and Munich Re Ventures at a $50 million valuation, Ghost Security, which its founders refer to as a “app security” startup, today came out of stealth. According to CEO Greg Martin, the funds will be used to hire more employees, develop Ghost’s product, and start client pilot programmes.
Organizations are built on apps and APIs. They are ultimately responsible for providing vital information to staff and clients. However, apps and APIs are increasingly being used as attack vectors. According to Salt Security, which does, in fact, market an API protection product, “malicious” API traffic increased 681 percent between December 2020 and December 2021. According to Pradeo Labs study, apps are the method that hackers most regularly use to gain access to mobile devices.
Martin asserts that Ghost uses “data science” to address security issues that other suppliers are unable to. He said that the company’s technology gives visibility and risk protection for apps and their dependencies, including services and APIs, in both cloud and on-premises environments, while keeping the specifics vague and mostly under wraps because Ghost’s product hasn’t yet debuted.
According to a news statement from Martin, “as an industry, we are still seeing a lot of outdated thinking” about how to handle the application, data, and microservice sprawl that large-scale cloud adoption has produced. The efficiency of current methods and application security solutions is waning. At Ghost, we are starting from scratch to consider how to secure modern applications.
These are combative words for a preproduct company. Martin draws attention to the fact that the co-founders of Ghost have extensive cybersecurity knowledge. Josh Larsen, the CTO, co-founded Blackfin Security Group, which Symantec bought in 2015, while working as an engineering manager at Symantec before moving on to Check Point as an account manager. In addition to serving as BlackBerry’s lead product architect, Eric Cornelius, the company’s chief product officer, served as the control systems security program’s deputy director for the US Department of Homeland Security.
Ghost faces a lot of competition right away, and talent is only one factor in the equation. Tens of millions of dollars have been raised by the aforementioned Salt Security for its technology to safeguard APIs from criminal misuse. Another API security problem-solving business, Noname, reached a $1 billion value following a $135 million Series C round in December. On the subject of app security, there are companies like Astrix Security and Enso Security, as well as Traceable AI, 42Crunch, and Cequence.
Hiro Rio Maeda, managing partner at DNX Ventures and investor in Ghost, is unconcerned by this. To be clear, his investment is significant given that, according to data from Pitchbook, venture capital funding for cybersecurity businesses decreased by 35.8 percent this quarter.
Applications, APIs, and microservices are being used at an exponential rate, which offers enterprises tremendous development potential but also creates a large number of new attack surfaces, according to a statement from Maeda. “It is necessary to secure these assets in a more effective manner, and Ghost is well-positioned to meet that task.”
