[redacted] emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday with $35 million in Series B funding and a cyber defense and response solution that enables organizations to pursue and disrupt adversaries.
[redacted] was founded in 2015 by Max Kelly, who serves as the company’s CEO, and John Hering. Kelly previously worked at the NSA, the US Cyber Command and at Facebook as CSO. Hering founded cybersecurity firm Lookout and served as its CEO.
The San Francisco, California-based company says it has developed a platform that can help organizations defend their systems and respond to attacks. [redacted]’s platform notifies users when a threat has been detected and provides information on the actions being taken in response.
The company claims it can also help customers turn the tables on attackers by disrupting their operations and holding them accountable.
“Overall, we operate within a legal framework that’s been established in court to support this activity. We are using civil law to engage in the same tactics that police use under criminal law. We will tailor the solution to have the greatest impact against the adversary,” Kelly told SecurityWeek.
“There’s a lot of different ways we do that. It can involve publicly outing their infrastructure so the security community as a whole can take it down. It could mean working with law enforcement to provide information they need to take appropriate action.
“If a malicious actor goes after one of our clients and they realize the repercussions of their actions, it sends a message,” Kelly added.
The company says these “pursuit” capabilities are powered by a highly experienced team and partnerships with governments and agencies worldwide.
The latest funding secured by [redacted], which brings the total raised by the company to $60 million, was led by Ten Eleven Ventures, with participation from Valor Equity Partners and SVB Capital.
Related: DoControl Emerges From Stealth With SaaS Security Platform
Related: Software Development Security Firm Argon Emerges From Stealth Mode
Related: SaaS Security Company Grip Security Emerges From Stealth

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
More from Eduard Kovacs
- British Retailer JD Sports Discloses Data Breach Affecting 10 Million Customers
- Meta Awards $27,000 Bounty for 2FA Bypass Vulnerability
- Industry Reactions to Hive Ransomware Takedown: Feedback Friday
- US Reiterates $10 Million Reward Offer After Disruption of Hive Ransomware
- Hive Ransomware Operation Shut Down by Law Enforcement
- UK Gov Warns of Phishing Attacks Launched by Iranian, Russian Cyberspies
- Dozens of Cybersecurity Companies Announced Layoffs in Past Year
- Security Update for Chrome 109 Patches 6 Vulnerabilities
Latest News
- British Retailer JD Sports Discloses Data Breach Affecting 10 Million Customers
- Vulnerabilities in OpenEMR Healthcare Software Expose Patient Data
- Russia-Linked APT29 Uses New Malware in Embassy Attacks
- Meta Awards $27,000 Bounty for 2FA Bypass Vulnerability
- The Effect of Cybersecurity Layoffs on Cybersecurity Recruitment
- Critical Vulnerability Impacts Over 120 Lexmark Printers
- BIND Updates Patch High-Severity, Remotely Exploitable DoS Flaws
- Industry Reactions to Hive Ransomware Takedown: Feedback Friday
