Contrast Security Secures $16 Million from Leading Investors to Make All Software Secure

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Contrast Security, the leader in next generation application security, today announced it secured $16 million in new financing. The lead investor for this Series B round is General Catalyst Partners, accompanied by Acero Capital, as well as technology industry veterans Ron Gula, founder of Tenable Network Security, Paul Sagan, former CEO of Akamai Technologies and John W. Thompson, chairman of the board for Microsoft Corp. The additional capital will be used to expand operations across the company, accelerating Contrast's capacity to develop, market, sell and deploy the most advanced application security technology available.

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Building a Transformative Product to Beat the Global Software Security Challenge

In today's digital world, organizations are increasingly becoming software-driven, software-managed and even software-defined. There are hundreds of millions of applications around the world, and that number is growing exponentially. Every business is innovating with applications to better compete. Yet applications remain the leading cause of breaches with far too much code for slow, inaccurate legacy tools to secure, and far too few experts to review and protect them all. As a result, businesses remain constantly hindered by the threat of successful cyberattacks that inhibit innovation and growth.

"Companies are simultaneously embracing new software applications, containers, pre-built libraries and new cloud technologies in order to transform into more agile, scalable and competitive businesses. With software becoming even more distributed, security must follow suit," said Alan Naumann, CEO of Contrast Security. "The fact is legacy application security methods simply weren't designed for agile software deployed quickly in the cloud, and are ill-equipped to secure applications there. This makes the application security industry ripe for disruption and reinvention. We are attacking this issue head-on with a highly effective approach that has drawn the attention of organizations large and small, as well as prominent investors and industry veterans. We are doing something that no one else has been able to achieve: making applications self-protecting regardless of where they reside."

Investing in the Application Security Revolution – Self-Protecting Software

Using patented software instrumentation, Contrast Security's unique technology enables apps to self-protect by detecting vulnerabilities and blocking attacks from within the application itself. This approach is a perfect fit with modern high-speed software development practices, such as agile development and DevOps. By inserting an intelligent software agent directly into application code that distributes thousands of smart sensors to detect, correct and protect the app from exposure to threats, Contrast Security protects every app, everywhere – without disrupting development or operations. The company's technology is remarkably effective, delivering consistent accuracy that sets the bar for the entire application security industry.

"With cybersecurity breaches being a matter of when rather than if, organizations in all industries are experiencing the ramifications of the IT and cyber security skills shortage," said Dr. Steve Herrod, managing director at General Catalyst Partners. "With Contrast, every application can be self-protecting, eliminating the need for experts to review millions of lines of code looking for flaws. This is a game-changer for the security and software industry as a whole. I see enormous value in Contrast Security's ability to outmaneuver today's software threats, and unlike legacy security tools, Contrast's approach can truly scale to protect every app."

A 2016 report from MarketsandMarkets predicts that the global application security market size will triple, growing from $2.24 billion in 2016 to $6.77 billion by 2021. Web application security is expected to dominate the market and contribute the largest market share and mobile application security is expected to play a key role, growing at the highest rate during the forecast period. Over the last 12 months, Contrast's revenue grew by more than 300 percent across all customer sectors, including financial services, technology and eCommerce.

Additional Supporting Quotes:
"Every business has a significantly growing software dependency. Yet software remains the leading source of data breaches. Sadly, the application security market hasn't evolved to keep up with modern software development, putting companies even more at risk," said John W. Thompson, chairman of the board for Microsoft Corp. "Contrast Security is transforming the market with a bold new approach to application security. The company makes software self-protecting so it can defend against vulnerabilities and attacks – an entirely unique approach to a problem plaguing the industry."

"In a world where businesses have an increasing appetite for DevOps, agile development and public cloud services, traditional security processes have become a major roadblock and it's often easier to eliminate them altogether," said Ron Gula, founder of Tenable Network Security. "This process is ripe for disruption with a new approach that builds security into the software. I personally invest only in companies that are force multipliers – people who are changing the game. Contrast is inserting an intelligent software sensor directly into code, making applications self-protecting. There is no one else transforming software development in this way and it has the potential to fundamentally change the way software is secured."

"Contrast Security is offering something important that no one else figured out: How to build an enterprise-grade product that recognizes applications are anywhere and everywhere, and self-assesses and self-protects those applications dynamically right from the development process through to production," said Paul Sagan, an investor in the company, and an executive-in-residence at General Catalyst Partners and the former CEO of Akamai Technologies. "Contrast Security is reinventing the application security world by distributing security directly into application code, and thereby distributing application protection. I cannot underscore enough how important this is, and I think it's a breakthrough."

About Contrast Security
Contrast Security is the world's leading provider of security technology that enables software applications to protect themselves against cyberattacks. More accurate and effective than outdated legacy security measures, Contrast Security is a completely new approach to application security – the world's first comprehensive platform for protecting enterprise applications from within. Contrast's patented deep security instrumentation is the breakthrough technology that enables highly accurate analysis and always-on protection of an entire application portfolio, without disruptive scanning or expensive security experts. Named a "Visionary" by Gartner, Contrast offers a Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) solution, the only "Transformational" tool in the entire category in the latest Gartner Hype Cycle Report. More information can be found at www.contrastsecurity.com or by following Contrast on Twitter at @ContrastSec.

For more information:
Megan Nemeh
SHIFT Communications for Contrast Security
[email protected] 
+1-415-591-8409

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