LookingGlass Raises $26.3M to Bring Order to Chaos

Reston, VA-based LookingGlass Cyber Solutions has just raised $26.3 million in a series D round which exemplifies the expected demand from managed service providers and governments for threat-intelligence-as-a-service (TIaaS).

The sector is seeing green shoots mature, and according to its investors -- which include New Spring Capital, Triangle Peak Partners and Eastward Capital Partners -- LookingGlass is in a prime position to exploit a marketplace that is writhing under security threats from all sides.

"Threat-intelligence-as-a-service is the response to a chaotic cybersecurity landscape and overwrought security teams with too little budget," Stewart Curley, CFO LookingGlass told SecurityNow. "We are entering a new era of cybersecurity, where we will see organizations changing the economics of cyber-attacks as part of their overall threat intelligence programs."

Curley may sound philosophical about the persistent, virulent threats that are emerging seemingly every second of every day. But it's all part of taking a more strategic approach to threat intelligence and containment than the "hair on fire" crisis-mode that hard-pressed security professionals currently find themselves operating in.

In fact, behind the strategy, there is indeed chaos. Curley paints a picture of a world in disarray: "When digital data is increasing exponentially, network perimeters are expanding with mobile devices, physical and cyber are converging with new Internet-connected IoT devices and physical business assets (the) threats are continuously morphing," he said. "Third-party partners have privileged access and information, new breaches are in the news every day, and hackers are looking to exploit any and every vulnerability."

TIaaS solutions grew out of a need to be more strategic and proactive; they can be deployed and enacted immediately without the lead time associated with other legacy approaches. LookingGlass offers an annualized service subscription that provides the opportunity for organizations to be up-and-running in days versus months of waiting for new hardware, integrating systems, and hiring sought-after security professionals.

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LookingGlass is active in at least 16 discrete areas of security protection ranging from typo squatting through to virus, malware and Command and Control situations. It holds just over 40 patents, but points to its proprietary Threat Indicator Confidence (TIC) metrics as a real differentiator against competitors. The TIC offers up a clear view of network elements and ranks threats based on the organization's environment, threat landscape, and security posture. It rates sources, classification, and criticality of intelligence and ultimately see how that rolls up across the global Internet.

Other TIaaS vendors include Optiv, FireEye and Crowdstrike. "[But] there are few companies in cybersecurity that have achieved LookingGlass's scale and which boast its enviable customer list," said Christopher Bodnar, investment partner at Eastward Capital Partners. 

Douglas Dangremond is SVP of threat intelligence services, his experience coming in-house from Cyveillance, a company acquired by LookingGlass in 2015. President and CEO Chris Coleman brings a directorship in cyber security with him from Cisco, and both executives have experience in working security within the public sector. Other significant acquisitions that shored up team knowledge came from CloudShield and Kleissner & Associates.

According to Curley, LookingGlass will see profitability in the near term, in part from revenue, in part from investment using the Series D round, although he was not specific about when. To date, LookingGlass has raised $108.75 million over five rounds. Last year, LookingGlass was ranked number 90 fastest growing company in North America in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, with annual growth over 1000%.

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— Simon Marshall, Technology Journalist, special to Security Now