“Why is cybersecurity so hot right now?”

This is the question we got from a reporter a few weeks ago for a story about the spike in investment activity for growing cybersecurity companies. In May, Darktrace was the first company in the network detection and response segment to IPO. Just a few short weeks later, ExtraHop announced its intent to be acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity and Crosspoint Capital Partners for $900 million. In July alone, cybersecurity start-ups RiskIQ, Skout, Avast, Bayshore Networks, and Cybereason announced investments or acquisitions.

So why are there so many investment dollars pouring into cybersecurity? Because over the last twelve months, the threat has become too big—and too prevalent—to ignore.

A Confluence of Events

In the wake of cyberattacks like SUNBURST, Kaseya, and Colonial Pipeline, cybersecurity has risen to the forefront of people’s consciousness like never before. In particular, Colonial Pipeline proved to be that tangible moment where cyber suddenly collided with real life, shutting down Americans’ ability to get to work, to take their kids to school, to go away for the weekend. There is something uniquely terrifying to Americans about a gas shortage. The attack hit the American psyche in a way cyber never has before.

We’ve reached an inflection point in cybersecurity as multiple factors converge to raise both awareness and urgency. Advanced attacks are on the rise as cybercriminals adopt nation-state tactics and cyberespionage is privatized. Cyberattackers’ motivations are expanding as well. While it was once enough to encrypt data and demand a ransom, the very same attackers are now looking to compromise the software supply chain to amplify the impact of their efforts.

As these attacks make their way into mainstream headlines—and into conversation at summer BBQs—business leaders are becoming increasingly sensitive to the need to take decisive action. And they aren’t alone. Over the past six months, the Biden administration has taken a hard stance on cyberattacks, issuing sanctions against Russia, calling out China for its attacks on Microsoft, and declaring ransomware a terrorist threat.

As the sense of urgency increases by the day, so does the need for companies to innovate and establish competitive advantage. So once again, the stakes are raised for CISOs: How do you defend against increasingly advanced threats without compromising on the scale, speed, and agility your organization needs to stay competitive?

Reclaim the Advantage

In early 2021, we had the opportunity to talk to one of our customer CISOs. During our conversation, he said something that stopped us cold: “Security is a state of being. Defense is what you do in pursuit of it.”

Those two simple sentences were a perfect articulation of the challenge that security leaders and practitioners everywhere face. They are asked to provide security. What they really offer is defense. And they need the right tools, the right weapons, to reclaim the upper hand in a battle where the other side has little to lose and everything to gain.

At ExtraHop, we have long been on a mission to do exactly that: give the good guys back the advantage with visibility, detection, and response at the speed and scale of modern digital business. Our dynamic cyber defense platform, Reveal(x) 360, combines the power of cloud-scale AI with months of lookback to help SecOps detect advanced threats in real time and understand the history of the attack. Our line-rate decryption capabilities help teams detect and investigate even the most sophisticated attacks that lurk within encrypted traffic.

So back to that most elemental question for CISOs: How do you defend your business without compromising its potential?

We don’t think you should have to compromise.

Security Uncompromised

Today, we are proud to announce a new awareness and education initiative that is all about helping security and business leaders reclaim the upper hand against advanced (and advancing) cyberthreats.

Security Uncompromised is a brand initiative that demonstrates our leadership in network detection and response—leadership born of exceptional product innovation, incredible customer service, and a relentless drive to advance the state of the art of cybersecurity.

It’s also authentic to who we are—a company that takes the needs of its customers seriously, without taking itself too seriously. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt has never been part of who we are, or how we talk about ourselves. We have always strived to rise above that noise with relatability and humor.

Most importantly, Security Uncompromised is, at its core, about hope. It’s about having the ability both to protect your business and move it forward with confidence. It’s about having security and agility, security and scale, security and seamless user experience. It’s about the fact that cyberattackers have the advantage—and it’s about time that we come together to take it back.