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Rapid7 Buys Jen Andre’s Startup, Komand, to Automate Security Tasks

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Rapid7 Buys Jen Andre’s Startup, Komand, to Automate Security Tasks

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Rapid7 says it has received Komand, Elive Net a small deal among two Boston groups that nevertheless suits larger cybersecurity developments. The acquisition charge wasn’t disclosed. However, Rapid7 (NASDAQ: RPD) says in a press release that Komand isn’t always expected to have a “cloth economic effect” on its revenue or profits consistent with a percentage this year. Komand’s 16 personnel have joined Rapid7 and received Rapid7 stock as part of their compensation packages, in line with an e-mailed declaration attributed to Jeff Bray, Rapid7’s vice chairman of investor relations.

A Xconomy supply with information of the deal places the charge at roughly $50 million, including cash, inventory, and earn-outs. Komand, which gives software program tools for automating protection tasks, become based in late 2015 with the aid of Jen Andre (pictured above). She formerly co-based neighborhood cybersecurity firm Threat Stack.

Komand raised $1.6 million from buyers, says Andre, the company’s CEO. Those backers encompass Hack Secure—a cybersecurity investment syndicate managed using the task company Accomplice—and Stone Hammer Capital, in step with Komand’s internet site. Hack Secure’s preliminary individuals included Rapid7 CEO Corey Thomas, Fortune reported closing yr.

When asked why Komand determined to sell this early, Andre says the company had “several alternatives” to raise additional capital, but the Rapid7 acquisition becomes the maximum attractive provides. The agencies align on product approach and company culture, she says. She declined to proportion Komand’s revenue figures or what number of clients it has.

Security

“I don’t think any startup can honestly plan for an acquisition,” Andre says. “We weighed our alternatives against the compelling provide by Rapid7, and it just made the experience.” Komand’s software goals to automate monotonous duties for security teams and seamlessly join their numerous equipment with a library of software plugins supplied with the aid of Komand.

The concept is to make safety teams extra green a good way to consciousness on fast and effectively responding to cyber threats, even as additionally releasing them as much as spend more time on the method and different big-picture activities. The organization additionally launched an online community for cybersecurity professionals to percentage first-rate practices and collaborated greater.

Andre was a protection analyst early in her profession. He or she says she turned into surprised that plenty of the paintings around detecting and responding to threats changed into so tedious and guide. Fast ahead more than a decade, and that’s still the case for many safety groups. At instances, the trouble is even worse now because security products and IT systems have grown more complicated, she says.

“It’s very tough for a safety crew to address and respond,” Andre says. Komand markets itself as a “protection orchestration and automation” employer. Similar companies include New York-based Simplify and Boston-based Hexadite, which become obtained these days by Microsoft. Since early 2016, different purchases of Boston-region cybersecurity-related corporations include IBM Security’s acquisition of Resilient Systems, Cisco System’s acquisition of CloudLock, CA Technologies’ acquisition of Veracode, and HyTrust’s acquisition of DataGravity.

The 17-12 months-old Rapid7 has been usually recognized for promoting software programs that enable agencies to find security flaws in their IT infrastructure and look at whether they’ve been corrected. In the latest years, the organization has delivered extra abilities in data analytics, assault detection and response, and services to assist huge companies in controlling their safety packages.

The Komand deal expands Rapid7’s services, says chief product officer Lee Weiner. For instance, while Rapid7’s software program finds a vulnerability in a consumer’s gadget, patching it presently involves a guide system, Weiner says. With Komand’s software, the flaw might be constant robotically, he says. That means it needs to take fewer assets and much less time for groups to deal with protection issues.

The addition of Komand suits Rapid7’s efforts to simplify security for its clients. The purpose is to lighten the burden on protection groups managing the enterprise’s scarcity of skilled employees. “Security and IT answers must evolve to consist of context-pushed automation [and] effective orchestration, to automate a variety of the things nowadays which might be manual,” Weiner says. “Solving this trouble of safety analytics and surely addressing the wider IT and safety wishes can’t be made through people on my own.”

Calvin M. Barker

Typical tv scholar. Problem solver. Writer. Extreme bacon fan. Twitter maven. Music evangelist. Spent a year consulting about salsa in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Spoke at an international conference about lecturing about junk food in New York, NY. Earned praise for promoting robotic shrimp in Phoenix, AZ. Spent 2002-2007 working on catfish in Naples, FL. Spent several months developing yogurt in Orlando, FL. Spent high school summers managing dandruff in Africa.

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