NSS Labs Shuttered

Security testing firm NSS Labs has halted operations, according to a post on its website that states: 

"Due to Covid-related impacts, NSS Labs ceased operations on October 15th."

Word of layoffs and possible folding of NSS Labs had emerged behind the scenes late last week, and efforts to reach the company and its private equity firm to confirm the details of its status were unsuccessful. Jason Brvenik, CEO of NSS Labs, said in a LinkedIn post today the company had ceased operations. "If you are in need of excellent people that exceed my high standards, please get in touch," he wrote.

NSS Labs in October of 2019 was quietly acquired by private equity firm Consecutive Inc. for an undisclosed figure in a move that was not publicly announced by the companies but which they later confirmed.

Several people close to NSS Labs had described the merger as a fire sale of sorts to restructure the company amid financial woes, but Brvenik told Dark Reading in a February interview that the deal represented a reorganization by the company in order to better focus its resources.

NSS Labs had been under pressure from investors to sell a security-as-a-service threat intelligence offering for exploits, but the now-defunct Cyber Advanced Warning System (CAWS) service failed to gather steam among enterprises. CAWS, which was developed by NSS and had integrated with various threat intel vendors in that space, alerted customers on active exploits in the wild.NSS Labs folded its CAWS technology into its testing as a bundled-service offering.

Earlier this year, NSS Labs launched both a new ratings system for endpoint security product testing for that product category, and a new consumer-focused nonprofit testing organization for security and Internet of Things products.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.