Norse, a provider of live threat intelligence solutions, has released Norse IPViking 2.0, the next generation of its cloud-based IT security solution, which provides context-rich, dark-threat intelligence about the darkest segments of the Internet. IPViking detects malware on the darknet while it is still in development, the live threat intelligence product is already in use by public sector agencies and departments. In addition to the release, the company has also announced a successful close of a Series A round of funding with a $10 million investment from Oak Investment Partners.
As part of IPViking 2.0, Norse has added capabilities that identify mobile and desktop devices, appliances, servers and even satellites in space attempting to connect to networks via malicious IP addresses. Pre-attack malware detection and malicious-device-type identification capabilities allow customers to reduce their risk of compliance violations, compromises and data breaches.
“We’ve added so much to IPViking 2.0 it could really be a new product, but we think it’s important to keep building features,” Sam Glines, CEO and co-founder, Norse tells CivSource. “We’ve not only added bad IP detection, but malicious URLS and device IP, those offerings have previously been whole businesses in other companies and we’re putting them in as a feature inside the API. So, this release is really a significant upgrade.”
Glines explains that the company really got its start in e-commerce, “I think it was a good channel to prove ourselves in because real money is on the line, and we were able to stop malicious transactions from going through.” Since then, the company has expanded to an enterprise level offering with a client base that includes government, financial services and health care in addition to e-commerce. Norse is also a sales team partner with McAfee, offering Nitro customers the IPViking feature set as an add-on. In the future, IPViking will also be integrated into Splunk.
“We have tens of millions of samples of malware and we can check it against our database to see if a potentially malicious piece of code is new, or if it is being developed,” he says. The company constantly monitors hacker forums and the darknet to pick up on malware before it’s a fully executable program.
Oak Investment Partners, a multi-stage venture capital firm represents the first institutional investment in the company in its history. Norse plans to use the capital to expand and strengthen engineering, product development, and sales and marketing. “We wanted to work with an investor that appreciates disruptive technology,” Glines said.
