Former McAfee CTO’s Cyber Security Data Company Cylance Raises $20M From Khosla, Blackstone

Cylance, a cyber security company founded by former Global McAfee CTO Stuart McClure, has raised $20 million in Series B funding from Blackstone, Khosla Ventures, Fairhaven Capital and a group of private investors. The company had previously raised $15 million in Series A funding last year.

Cylance frames itself as one of the most advanced threat detection engine powered by machine learning and algorithmic modeling. The company’s technology is evolving constantly based on new threats, such as malware and other cyber attacks, taking place in real-time.

“Cylance has long held the belief that security isn’t rocket science, it just needs to be incredibly effective and silent – and applying math is the secret,” said McClure in a release. “The hacking abilities of malicious actors have far outpaced the capacity of the human defender. It’s time for the old security models to fade out and bring in the new. We don’t ever have to trust the vendor anymore to determine whether something is safe or not, we can just ‘trust the math’.”

As McClure told us last year, organizations need to treat systems similar to the way healthy person treats their body. Prevention is key to remaining healthy, and systems need similar treatment except their preventative nutrients are in the form of data algorithms. Taking preventative measures makes the difference between falling victim to attack and withstanding the virus.

Clearly as attacks are getting more sophisticated, offerings that offer a preventative, evolving approach like Cylance become compelling to both organizations and investors. We’re also seeing more consolidation in this space, Morta was just acquired by Palo Alto Networks, and Mandiant was bought by security company FireEye for $1 billion.