Darktrace

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Darktrace plc
TypePublic
LSE: DARK
Founded2013; 9 years ago (2013)[1]
HeadquartersCambridge, England, UK
San Francisco, United States[2]
Key people
Gordon Hurst (Chairman)
Poppy Gustafsson (CEO)
ServicesCyber Security
RevenueIncrease US$199.1 million (2020)[3]
Increase US$(24.9) million (2020)[3]
Increase US$(28.7) million (2020)[3]
Number of employees
1,200 (2020)[4]
Websitewww.darktrace.com

Darktrace is a British information technology company that specialises in cyber-defence. The company was established in 2013 and is headquartered in Cambridge, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Background[]

Darktrace was founded in 2013, in a collaboration with the British intelligence agencies[5] and Invoke Capital, a company owned by Mike Lynch.[6][7] By the end of 2013, as well as being a wholly owned subsidiary of Invoke Capital, Invoke Capital additionally provided 15 of Darktrace's 40 staff members.[8]

In April 2021, Darktrace listed on the London Stock Exchange with a market value of circa £2.5 billion.[9][10] The market value reached a peak of £7 billion within months, with a share value peak of £10, but later fluctuated. On 24 January 2022 the price fell 15% (62p), closing at £3.62.[11]

There has been criticism about the company's technology, and its founding investor by Matthew Earl, head of the Shadowfall fund, and analysts Peel Hunt. Earl questioned Darktrace's model and culture, warning clients that the company's model was "watery-thin", based more on sales style than business substance.[11] Mike Lynch and his wife are Darktrace's second-largest shareholder (as of January 2022). Lynch was co-founder of Autonomy, sold to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 in a transaction leading to accusations of fraud and to a legal fight over extraditing him to the United States. Many of Draktrace's management personnel, including chief executive Poppy Gustafsson, chief technology officer Jack Stockdale, and chief strategy and artificial intelligence officer Nicole Eagan, are ex-Autonomy. In its stock market listing registration documents Darktrace rated the potential liability relating to the fallout of the action against Lynch as "low risk".[11]

Products[]

Darktrace's Enterprise Immune System uses proprietary machine learning and AI algorithms to build a so-called "pattern of life" for every network, device, and user within an organization. It then employs correlation techniques to classify and cross-reference these models, establishing a highly accurate understanding of 'normal activity' within that particular environment.[5] From this evolving understanding of 'normal', it can then detect potential threats as they emerge in real time.[12] It employs an autonomous response technology, Antigena, which allows networks to take action against in-progress cyber-attacks.[13] The product also visualizes network activity on a user interface, called the 'Threat Visualizer'.[14] Since the company's inception in 2013, its technology has been deployed some 9,000 times.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ "Darktrace Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Darktrace". Forbes.
  3. ^ a b c "Annual Report 2020". Darktrace. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Cybersecurity firm Darktrace soars on London stock market debut". Yahoo News. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b Hall, Susan. (5 January 2017). "Darktrace Automates Network Security Through Machine Learning." The New Stack. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  6. ^ "After Autonomy". The Economist. 2013-09-21. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  7. ^ "Darktrace, The Cyber Security Startup Backed By Mike Lynch, Raises Further $18M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  8. ^ "After Autonomy". The Economist. 2013-09-21. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  9. ^ Bradshaw, Tim. "Darktrace shares jump 32% in IPO". The Financial Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  10. ^ "Darktrace: What we learned from building a £2.5bn UK success story". City A.M. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Sweney, Mark (25 January 2022). "'Snake oil': doubts loom over tech firm Darktrace's high-octane sales strategy". The Guardian.
  12. ^ Greene, Tim (9 March 2017). “Darktrace finds more attacks, cuts response time, saves money for Blackhawk Network.” Network World. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  13. ^ Kobie, Nicole (4 April 2017). “Darktrace’s AI is now automatically responding to hacks – and stopping them.” WIRED. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  14. ^ Hamblen, Matt. (5 Dec 2016). “Behavior analytics tools for cybersecurity move into enterprises.” Computerworld. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  15. ^ "Losses widen at security start-up Darktrace as it embarks on hiring spree". The Telegraph. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
Retrieved from ""