Top Venture Capital Firms In Security Space Invest $12 Million In RedSeal

The round was led by OVP Venture Partners, whose managing director, Mark Ashida, has joined RedSeal's board

October 23, 2009

3 Min Read

PRESS RELEASE

San Mateo, CA " October 21, 2009 " RedSeal Systems, Inc. (www.redseal.net), the leading vendor of security posture management software, today announced that the security industry's foremost venture capital firms have backed RedSeal with a $12 million investment. In addition, security executive Mark Ashida, managing director at OVP Venture Partners and former general manager of enterprise networking and authentication for Microsoft, has joined RedSeal's board of directors. These moves represent a strong endorsement of RedSeal's innovative solutions by the security financial community.

RedSeal develops software that automatically, comprehensively and continuously assesses the cybersecurity posture of an organization, identifying weaknesses before they can be exploited. The vast majority of data breaches experienced today, including those at Heartland Systems and TJX, are caused by relatively simple configuration errors that lurk unnoticed within an organization's IT infrastructure until they are discovered by a hacker. These attacks can be stopped if the oversights are discovered in time, but today's security infrastructures are far too complex and rapidly changing for manual reviews to be effective. RedSeal pinpoints configuration oversights and vulnerabilities that create risk, ensuring that the organization's existing investment in firewalls, routers, patch management and security personnel is effectively protecting critical information assets.

"RedSeal addresses perhaps the most fundamental security issue facing corporations and government agencies today," said Mark Ashida. "Cyber defenses are enormously intricate, and the smallest hole could allow a hacker to defeat them. Using RedSeal, CISOs, CIOs and CEOs can be confident that they are protecting their organizations from the nearly constant cyber attacks occurring today."

The security industry's leading venture capital firms funded the $12 million investment in RedSeal. The round was led by OVP Venture Partners, the most experienced venture capital firm in the Northwest. OVP's prior security investments include Foundstone (acquired by McAfee), Watchguard Technologies (NASDAQ:WGRD) and Avenda Systems. OVP was joined by existing investors Venrock , Jafco Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Leapfrog Ventures. The total investment by these firms in RedSeal's advanced technology now exceeds $43 million.

Mark Ashida brings deep expertise in the IT security market to RedSeal's board of directors. Until 2007, he led Microsoft's $450 million networking infrastructure and authentication business. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Intertrust, the leader in secure distribution technology for digital goods. Before joining Intertrust, Mark was a General Manager at Intel Architecture Labs.

"Protecting critical business assets from hackers is complex—not impossible," said Tom Arthur, CEO of RedSeal Systems. "With RedSeal, businesses can dramatically improve their security without spending an additional dime on security devices. We're pleased that security leaders of the caliber of OVP and Mark Ashida have recognized the power and importance of this solution."

About RedSeal Systems, Inc.

RedSeal Systems develops security posture management software that enables organizations to assess and strengthen their cyber-defenses. Unlike systems that detect attacks once they occur, RedSeal identifies holes in the security infrastructure that could be exploited—before they are discovered by hackers. RedSeal software analyzes and simplifies the complex interaction of firewalls, routers, load balancers and hosts, delivering in-depth understanding of overall security posture, continuous compliance with regulations such as PCI, FISMA, and SOX, and actionable steps for risk remediation. For more information, visit RedSeal at www.redseal.net.

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