BitSight Technologies Launches Information Security Risk Rating Service

PRESS RELEASE

Cambridge, MA – September 10, 2013 – BitSight Technologies, a startup that recently secured a $24M Series A funding round, today launched the first in a series of new cybersecurity offerings that deliver accurate and timely ratings on the information security effectiveness of organizations around the world. The ratings, which are based on externally visible network behavior, are generated daily to keep track of the continuously shifting nature of an organization's security state.

BitSight's new service offering – the BitSight Partner SecurityRating – provides objective and up-to-date ratings on the information security health of a company's partner ecosystem so it can better protect sensitive business and customer data shared with third-party vendors. The information security ratings, which range from 250 to 900, are similar to consumer credit scores, with higher ratings indicating better security postures.

According to a February 2013 Ponemon Institute survey, 65% of organizations transferring consumer data to third-party vendors reported a breach involving the loss or theft of their information. In addition, nearly half of organizations surveyed did not evaluate their partners before sharing sensitive data.

"Traditional approaches to measuring and mitigating partner security risk, including network security audits and assessments, have fallen short," said Stephen Boyer, co-founder and CTO of BitSight. "These methods fail to deliver an objective and simple way to understand the effectiveness of an organization's network security practices. BitSight Partner SecurityRating delivers a single, daily rating that encapsulates the information security integrity of any third-party network, allowing customers to make data-driven, risk-based decisions. "

How the BitSight Platform Works

Using online sensors placed at strategic points around the Internet, the BitSight platform collects and analyzes publicly available Internet traffic flowing to and from an organization. Suspicious behaviors, such as participation in a DDoS attempt or communication with a known botnet, are analyzed for severity, frequency, duration and confidence to create an overall rating of the organization's current security health. Ratings are derived entirely from the outside; no special disclosures are required and no intrusive testing is conducted on the rated company.

"BitSight's unique, data-driven approach to information security rating provides organizations with valuable insight to more confidently mitigate risk," said Charles J. Kolodgy, Research Vice President of Security Products for IDC. "On a broader scale, it should also help the industry reduce the overall number of third-party data breaches."

"Throughout my career, organizations have always wanted a better way to protect themselves against the weak links in computer networks that are not their own," said Shaun McConnon, CEO of BitSight. "BitSight tackles that problem in a unique and more effective way, ensuring that information sharing between partners is protected, yet remains open."

Currently, Fortune 1000 companies in the healthcare, financial services and retail industries use BitSight Partner SecurityRating to protect the sensitive data they share. Delivered as a SaaS offering, key features of the service include:

- Up-to-Date Partner Ratings – BitSight processes and analyzes terabytes of data daily to rate thousands of organizations, including the world's most popular data and outsourced service providers in the hosting, storage, manufacturing, advertising, HR and legal sectors. New ratings are presented daily via the Customer Portal.

- Timely Alerts – BitSight customers are alerted of significant changes to their partner ratings so they can quickly and proactively take steps to mitigate and prevent possible data breaches. In addition, BitSight delivers detailed information on individual risk vectors so that the sources of risk can be identified and shared with partners.

- In-depth Analytics – BitSight provides customers with analytical tools that assess trends, compare individual ratings against industry benchmarks, and rank ratings within their portfolio. Partner groups can be created based on size, industry, type of data being shared, or business objective in order to help organizations better manage partner risk.

For more information on the BitSight Partner SecurityRating service, visit www.bitsighttech.com.

About BitSight Technologies

BitSight Technologies is transforming how companies manage information security risk with objective, evidence-based security ratings. The company's SecurityRating Platform continuously analyzes vast amounts of external data on security behaviors in order to help organizations make timely risk management decisions. Based in Cambridge, MA, BitSight is backed by Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, and Menlo Ventures. For more information, please visit www.bitsighttech.com or follow @BitSight on Twitter.