Zero Networks, the pioneer in multi-factor authentication (MFA) segmentation, today announced $20.3 million in Series A financing led by Venrock, F2 Venture Capital, and PICO Venture Partners. The funding round also included participation from various angel investors, including Ariel Maislos, founder of Passave (acquired by PMC-Sierra) and Anobit (acquired by Apple), and Shai Morag, co-founder and CEO of Ermetic.

Fast, effective, and deployable security

Unfortunately, ransomware is still very prevalent among businesses, so much so that in 2021, 37% of all businesses and organizations were hit by it in one way or another. Normally, recovering from such an attack cost businesses an average of $1.87 million. The current security solutions on the market don't suffice, as they do not protect enterprises from lateral movement and ransomware. Why? Because vendors take an old-school approach requiring manually specifying IP permissions, meaning, overall, such an approach is cumbersome to deploy and not scalable. As a result, the problem of lateral movement remains unsolved, which has given attackers the upper hand. That is why the ransomware industry is so massive today.

Zero Networks is minding the gap in this market need. Their product takes an MFA-based approach that simplifies segmentation, no matter how big or small a company is. They drastically reduce threats such as malware and ransomware, as well as more advanced attacks, so are stopping the spread of malware before it even starts.

Zero Networks, zero interruptions

Zero Networks automatically takes every asset and restricts network access to exactly what is needed–applying protection for the client, server, home, office, on-premises or in the cloud. Their “just-in-time privileged access” approach effortlessly segments any network without the headaches associated with agents or hair pinning. Such an approach allows enterprises to stop almost any type of attack from spreading in any network by enabling MFA for every asset and device. The best part about it: Zero Networks deploys in minutes, so not only do users have military-grade security, but it isn't a hassle to use; it provides strong protection without impacting the day-to-day experience of employees. Moreover, it deploys without an agent as a virtual appliance so that it can enforce policy via a remote controller for firewalls. It, therefore, eliminates agent management and usability headaches, all without adding any additional costs.

Todd Graham, Vice President at Venrock exclaimed, “Large security vendors have been busy adding pointless functionality to stop ransomware, failing to fulfill their core purpose—stopping lateral movement. Organizations need one solution to stop ransomware and lateral movement versus a patchwork of questionable technologies du jour. Zero Networks provides a scalable, effective innovation that chief information security officers have been hoping to see for decades.”

Zero Netowork's team. Credit: Nadav Garb.

With the new capital, Zero Networks plans to double in size, with aggressive hiring across all teams (product, engineering, and sales) in Israel, the U.S., and Europe. Zero Networks was founded in 2019 by security veteran Benny Lakunishok (CEO) and Amir Frankel (CTO). To date, the company has raised $25 million.