Cylance Inc.
TypeSubsidiary[1]
IndustryComputer security
Founded2012 (2012)
Founder
  • Stuart McClure
  • Ryan Permeh
Headquarters
Irvine, California
,
United States
ServicesAnti-virus, anti-malware
RevenueIncrease $189 Million(2021)
Number of employees
760[2]
ParentBlackBerry Limited
WebsiteCylance.com

Cylance Inc., is an American software firm based in Irvine, California,[3] that develops antivirus programs and other kinds of computer software that prevents viruses and malware.

In February 2019, the company was acquired by BlackBerry Limited.[4][5] After the acquisition, it continues to operate as an independent subsidiary and will remain headquartered in Irvine, California.

Founding

Cylance was founded by Stuart McClure and Ryan Permeh in 2012. McClure was previously co-founder of Foundstone, a security consultancy. He sold Foundstone to McAfee in 2004, and became that firm's Chief Tech Officer.[6]

Cylance's founding came about as a result of McClure's experience surviving a near-fatal airline tragedy. When he was 19, McClure and his family were flying to Australia when the door on their Boeing 747–122 suddenly blew open at 25,000 feet, ripping a massive hole in the business-class section of the aircraft. Luggage and seats were sucked out and struck the engines, causing two to explode and catch fire, while the rapid cabin decompression killed nine people.[7]

McClure later learned that the fatal event was caused by a fault in the Boeing 747’s locking mechanism.[8] It was a known flaw that the company chose to ignore. “I realized then how destructive a simple vulnerability can be,” McClure told Forbes in an interview.[9]

This formed McClure’s basis for how he looks at cyber attacks today: many of them are due to flaws that are known and disregarded. The revelation also informed his decision to forge a career in security to help protect people against cyberattacks.

The second epiphany occurred a few years later, when he was asked how he protected his own computer. He noted that he lacked trust in any security technology since it was all reactive in nature (for example, legacy antivirus technology), meaning it only cleaned up after an attack or prevented it a second time. Consequently, McClure began developing a technology based on "proactive protection".[10]

Funding

A July 2015 report indicated that Cylance had raised $42 million from investors including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Dell, Capital One, and TenEleven Ventures.[6] It received another $100 million in June 2016 with lead investors Blackstone Tactical Opportunities (part of The Blackstone Group) and Insight Venture Partners.[11] They received an investment from In-Q-Tel in September 2015.[12][13]

Product Features

McClure claims that Cylance's antivirus product does not use security features, such as unique signatures, heuristics, behavioral analysis, sandboxing, virtualization, or blacklisting. Rather, the product claims to use artificial intelligence to identify and stop attackers. McClure claims that its security features are similar to the human brain's way of identifying threats, wherein it "teaches" computers to identify indicators of an attack.[6]

Operation Cleaver

Operation Cleaver was a covert cyberwarfare operation allegedly carried out by the Iranian government against targets worldwide, specifically critical infrastructure entities. Cylance published a report about the operation in late 2014. Iranian officials rejected Cylance's conclusions, but the FBI tacitly confirmed them.[14][15][16]

MOTEX Collaboration

In May 2016, Cylance announced a new collaboration with MOTEX, an Osaka-based firm, to integrate MOTEX LanScope, an endpoint security management, and CylancePROTECT, Cylance's leading product, which claims to proactively detect and prevent malware. The end product will be called CylancePROTECT Cat.[17]

Acquisition by BlackBerry Limited

In February 2019, the company was acquired by BlackBerry Limited for $1.4 billion.[18][19][20]

Controversies

Malware Scandal

In November 2016, a systems engineer evaluated 48 files of malware samples provided by Cylance for testing their protection system "Protect", and found that 7 of them weren't malware.[21] This led to an accusation that Cylance was using the test to look superior to its opponents by providing files that other products would fail to detect as malware.[22] In response, Cylance executives said that they used repackaged malware samples for testing.

Honors and awards

The company has won several awards.[23]

In March 2018, Cylance won the 2018 MSPWorld Cup Award.[24]

In November 2017, LinkedIn recognized Cylance as one of the "Top Companies | Startups" of the year 2017.[25]

In October 2017, Cylance was certified as a "Great Place to Work" on GreatPlaceToWork.com.[26]

In September 2017, Cylance was announced a winner of the Gartner Peer Insights Customer Choice Award for Endpoint Protection Platforms by Gartner Inc.[27]

In August 2017, Cylance made the Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000 List for the second year in a row.[28]

In May 2017, Cylance made the CNBC Disruptor 50 list[29] for the second year in a row.[30]

In March 2017, CylancePROTECT was named Best Endpoint Protection Product of 2016 by SANS Community.[31]

In July 2016, McClure was named Orange County Entrepreneur of the Year in the category of technology.[10]

In 2016, Cylance was ranked No. 23 on the Forbes Cloud 100 list.[32]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Cylance in Irvine bought by BlackBerry for $1.4 billion". Feb 22, 2019.
  2. ↑ Work, Great Place to. "Working at Cylance". Great Place to Work®.
  3. ↑ "Company Overview of Cylance Inc". Bloomberg L.P.
  4. ↑ "BlackBerry to Acquire Cylance and Add Premier AI and Cybersecurity Capabilities".
  5. ↑ "BlackBerry: What the Cylance Acquisition Means for Cyber Business | Fortune".
  6. 1 2 3 Hackett, Robert (Jul 28, 2015). "Cylance raises $42 million for AI-based security software". Fortune Magazine.
  7. ↑ "McClure: Hacking Exposed". Jan 7, 2014.
  8. ↑ "How a deadly plane flight created security startup Cylance". Dec 4, 2012.
  9. ↑ "In Their Own Words: Cylance Founder And CEO Stuart McClure". April 16, 2014.
  10. 1 2 "EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2016 Orange County". Smart Business Online. Jul 1, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Cylance Announces $100 Million Series D Funding Round Led by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Insight Venture Partners". Wallstreet-online.de. Wallstreet:Online AG. 2016-06-08. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
  12. ↑ "Cylance Announces Strategic Partnership with In-Q-Tel". In-Q-Tel. In-Q-Tel. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  13. ↑ "Cylance". In-Q-Tel. In-Q-Tel. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  14. ↑ Plummer, Quinten (December 15, 2014). "Operation Cleaver is Bigger Threat than Previously Thought, FBI Warns US Businesses". Tech Times. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ Bertrand, Natasha (December 8, 2014). "Iran Is Officially A Real Player In The Global Cyber War". Business Insider. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  16. ↑ Riley, Michael A; Robertson, Jordan (December 2, 2014). "Iran-Backed Hackers Target Airports, Carriers: Report". Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ Guru, Sagganik; Khyati, Jain (May 12, 2016). "U.S. based Cylance Inc. and Japan's MOTEX Unite to Establish Advanced Cyber Threat Prevention Solutions in Japan". Cyber Secure India. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ "BlackBerry Completes Acquisition of Cylance" (Press release). PR Newswire. February 21, 2019.
  19. ↑ Coop, Alex (February 21, 2019). "BlackBerry completes acquisition of Cylance". IT World Canada.
  20. ↑ Team, Trefis. "Why BlackBerry's Acquisition Of Cylance Makes Sense". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  21. ↑ Gallagher, Sean (2017-04-17). "Lawyers, malware, and money: The antivirus market's nasty fight over Cylance". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  22. ↑ "Cyber Security Company Cylance Faces Fraud Controversy As Layoffs Continue". SnapMunk. 2017-04-21. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  23. ↑ "Stock Market | FinancialContent Business Page". markets.financialcontent.com. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  24. ↑ "Cylance® Wins 2018 MSPWorld Cup Award™ - Managed Services & Cloud Computing Blog". 2018-03-20.
  25. ↑ "LinkedIn Top Companies | Startups: The 50 industry disruptors you need to know now". 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  26. ↑ "Cylance". reviews.greatplacetowork.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  27. ↑ "Winners Announced for the Gartner Peer Insights Customer Choice Awards for Endpoint Protection Platforms". Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  28. ↑ "Cylance® Named to Inc. 5000 List for Second Consecutive Year with More Than 1,454% Revenue Growth Over Three Years". www.cylance.com. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  29. ↑ CNBC (2017-05-16). "Meet the 2017 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  30. ↑ "Cylance Named To CNBC Disruptor 50 List for Second Consecutive Year". www.cylance.com. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  31. ↑ "SANS Institute - SANS Best of Awards". www.sans.org. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  32. ↑ "Forbes Cloud 100". Forbes. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
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