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Seasoned entrepreneurs Todd Brennan, Allen Hillery, John Hanratty’s Journey to set up Bit9 aka Carbon Black

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A cybersecurity firm set up by trio Todd Brennan, John Hanratty, and Allen Hillery is famous on the international level. It is working in the field of endpoint security to protect the client’s information from security threats. Data security is the main priority in the present world. Cybercrimes are increasing day by day. Any kind of hacking or any malicious attack results in a huge loss for any business. Therefore almost all organizations demand total network and data security. For that, dozens of firms are depending upon Carbon Black. In fact, more than 5000 clients trust Carbon black and secure their business. To detect cyberpunk as well as to prevent future attacks, Carbon black offers it’s best to all kinds of organizations.

The backstory of foundation

Bit9 is the output of the productive idea of three serial entrepreneurs Todd, Allen, and John. They transformed computer network technology and IT security with Carbon Black. It is set up in 2002 as Bit9. During the initial days, the company has to face malicious attacks. Apparently, it then becomes the inspiration to save other firms from such types of attacks. The service is getting more advanced after acquiring the unique start-up Carbon Black in 2014. After that, Bit9 renamed as Carbon Black.

About Carbon Black

It is a Waltham(Massachusetts) based cybersecurity firm that creates cloud-native endpoint security software. This software is especially known for detecting malicious behavior. As well, to revert such attacks and saves important data from getting hacked. Carbon black’s PSC platform is best to analyze unfiltered data of clients for threats. As a matter of fact, PSC stands for Predictive Security Cloud. Currently, 5600+ customers trust Carbon Black. Recently, the firm merged into VMware to flourish its service.

The journey of Carbon Black

Since 2002, the firm has been improving its service and adding the clients to its list. In fact, most of the customers of Carbon Black belongs to Fortune industries. It gets started with the name Bit9. However, the firm acquired a security service firm carbon black and became Carbon Black. The combination of Bit9 and Carbon Black.

That time, it also raised E series funding and continue its exploring strategy. Moreover, it gained Objective Logistics in 2015. Similarly many more small to medium startups in the IT security field are acquired by Carbon Black. Including Visitrend, SecureWorks,  Trustwave, Ernst & Young, Kroll, and Rapid7, etc.

Thereafter, it raised to 152 dollars during its initial public offering. Today, it has top investors like Kleiner, Perkins Accomplice, etc. However, Carbon Black decided to get merged into VMware in 2019.

Glimpse to founders life

All founders of Carbon Black are series entrepreneurs who build several milestones in there early days. The trio of Todd, Allen, and John has built several firms together, including Carbon Black and Ampient. However, most of the firms set up are related to cybersecurity, network, and data security.

Allen Hillery

He has specialization in research and development, and he has been working in this field for a long time. Coming to his education, he holds the doctorate at the University of Wisconsin in Electrical and computer engineering. As well, bachelor’s degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the same university.

Apart from that, he is an expert in information security, scalability testing, large-scale computing, etc. Allen is the co-founder of Bit9 and Ampient. At Bit9, he served as VP and shares a great contribution to build a strong base of it.

Moreover, he also helped in founding the Okena endpoint security company.

Other works of Allen

Rather than setting up the businesses, he wrote a number of patent applications. As said earlier, Allen works in the field of Research. Yet, he continues to redefine parallel computing and IT security with his research.

He also worked to design some of the largest supercomputer clusters in his early career. That time, he was a researcher at Shell E&P research Center.

Todd Brennan

He also helped in building the base of Carbon Black in 2002. Having the spirit and tremendous knowledge of technology, Todd set up several startups and runs it successfully. Presently, he is serving as CEO of Ampient, which he helped to found too. In fact, he also set up Okena with Allen. At bit9, he served as chief technology officer and VP engineering. In 2003, he built novel technology to defend against emerging IT security threats. Todd also active in the research field, also he served at MIT Lincon Lab as a researcher.

Education

Brennan has a Master’s degree in Electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin. From the same university, he earned a Ph.D. However, he attended Cornell University to graduate in electrical engineering.

Awards and recognition of Todd

InfoWorld honored him and include his name in the list of Top 25 CTO in 2006. As well, he is an awardee of several collegiate teaching awards. Also, he is an author of dozens of patents and research papers.

lifelock

Lifelock- Fighting Against Cybercrime Since 2005

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There are always two sides to a coin. If an innovation appears as a boon to our world, much time is not taken to manipulate it and use it otherwise. With the advent of the internet, our world has developed in terms of tech. Many companies have been founded in the IT sectors, economic growth has also increased, and communication has become easier. With the transmission of data, data storage, etc the risk of data leaking is of utmost importance. Because when a person’s data is all over the net, anyone can take advantage of it. Many companies and also government agencies provide cybersecurity. LifeLock is an American software company that provides services for preventing identity theft.

Identity theft is a category of cybercrime in which an individual tries to take financial advantage mostly through someone’s identity. Robert J. Maynard and Todd Davis founded the company in 2005 with more than 600 employees. The company’s headquarters are currently based in Arizona, United States.

Robert J. Maynard

Robert is a famous American businessman who has also co-founded Internet America, an internet service provider and several other companies.

Born in 1962, Robert served in the US Marine Corps as well as the US Reserve Army before attending college. He went to Northern Arizona University in 1985 and excelled in academics. He won many awards during this time and gained recognition. Robert founded Internet America in the late 1990s and it became a huge success. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the early 2000s.

Todd Davis

Todd went to Baylor University and received his bachelor’s degree in business in 1990. After completing his bachelor’s he worked for many start-ups as a part of their executive management team. In 1992, he joined Dell and he also received the Dell Vision Award. In 2002, Todd founded his own company, Marketing Champions and served as the CEO.

In 2005, Todd along with Robert co-founded LifeLock and Todd served as the CEO of the company till 2016. In 2016, he stepped down from the position and became the executive vice-chairman of the Board of Directors.

Apart from being a successful businessman, Todd is also a very good speaker and a philanthropist. In 2009, he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and came in the list of one of the most admired CEO in 2009.

The Beginning

LifeLock works to provide services like identity authentication monitor the credit applications of the customers and protect the accounts from identity theft. The company also monitors real-time data from account openings and sends notifications or alerts in case of dual checking. When the duo founded the company they only had a seed funding of $2 million.

Investors

In the next year, the company received a funding of $5 million from Bessemer Ventures. And, additional $6 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers in 2007. The company, within two years of its establishment, landed some impressive investors. Apart from these investors, others include River Street Management, Goldman Sachs Group, etc.

After receiving $25 million in Series C funding, the company raised another $40 million in Series D funding. In 2012, the company raised another $100 million from existing investors.

Also Read: Flipboard: An Application that Creates Digitalised Magazine With Curated Contents

Upside Down

Robert left the company in 2007 after he was the victim of identity theft. It is a point of huge controversy when the founder of a cyber protection company falls prey to such crimes. After this incident, maybe to save the face loss of the company, Todd made his social security number public. But, after this move, his banking system was attacked more than thirteen times.

Acquisitions and Partnerships

In December 2008, LifeLock signed an agreement with TransUnion for sending alert messages to customers in case of odd activity. LifeLock acquired ID Analytics in 2012. The company also went public in 2012 offering its initial IPO at $175 million. This year, Hilary Schneider joined LifeLock as its President.

In the next few years, LifeLock acquired Lemon Wallet for $42.6 million and Symantec for $2.3 billion.

In 2015, the company was charged $100 million as a fine for failing to secure its customer’s privacy. There have been many controversies after Robert resigned from the company. But, the company also received many awards such as Grand Steve Award for two consecutive years (2012 & 2013). LifeLock also acquired the eighth position in the list of Inc magazine in 2010.