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- CyberBytes: The Newsletter #6!
CyberBytes: The Newsletter #6!
Charlotte Harris
December 19, 2024
‘Tis the Season for Cybersecurity Cheer! 🎄
It’s the final release of CyberBytes: The Newsletter in 2024 - what a year it has been! 🚀
As we wrap up the year, we’re bringing you a festive dose of inspiration, industry highlights, and a look ahead to what 2025 holds for the world of cyber. Whether you’re unwinding with a mince pie or strategising for the new year, we’ve got stories, tips, and trends to keep you ahead of the game.
Here’s what you can look forward to in the final edition of CyberBytes: The Newsletter for 2024:
📈 The Biggest Growth Areas of 2024- Our take on the biggest growth areas of Cybersecurity in 2024.
💰 Cyber Investments in 2024 - A look at the key investment areas of 2024.
📊 Improving 1st-2nd Meeting Conversion Rates - Expert advice from a seasoned Sales Leader.
🎙️ CyberBytes: Trailblazers from The Cyber 60 List - Explore essential reads in cybersecurity.
🔥 Hot Jobs Highlight - This month’s top job opportunities.
🚀 Top Talent Trends for 2025 - Our predictions of 2025’s hiring landscape.
Pour yourself some mulled wine and dive in—because CyberBytes is here to make your holiday season both merry and insightful! 🎄✨
👋 A Word From Our Founders 👋
2024 has been a ride!
Coming out of a tricky 2023, for many companies this year was far from plane sailing. We've seen companies fold, big down rounds and many founders scrapping to get to the end of each week. But it's also been hugely positive. Funding has upticked significantly, especially in H2, and market confidence seems to be returning by storm. There has been massive innovation in the AI security space and many other categories so we're expecting 2025 to be a pivotal year for the security market.
Overall we can say we're glad to be at the end of the year and see what the next 365 days brings.
Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year. See you on the other side!
🔦 Vendor Spotlight 🔦
Twine Security
Twine builds AI digital employees who execute tasks from A to Z to help cyber teams close the talent gap.
We had the pleasure of speaking with Benny Porat, Co-Founder and CEO of Twine, about the inspiring story behind Twine's creation, its vision for the future, and much more.
What inspired the founding of Twine Security, and how does your mission address current challenges in the cybersecurity landscape?
After I finished my time as the Co-Founder and CTO at multi-billion-dollar-valued cyber company Claroty, I thought long and hard on the next challenge to tackle. I knew I wanted to create a new company and I’m a strong believer that the first step is finding the right people to build it with. I was lucky enough to have a superstar team of cyber experts and longtime friends.
After working closely with so many customers, it was clear to me that the biggest challenge in cybersecurity is not in tech, but in execution. Cyber teams almost never have enough time or resources to do what they aspire to minimize threats to their organizations. Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence, we believe, are a once in a generation opportunity to finally fix the execution problem in cybersecurity and help teams close the cyber gap.
After speaking to more than 105 companies to validate, it was clear that Identity and Access Management (IAM) was the biggest cyber security problem organizations face. Recently, our belief was reaffirmed by Clint Gibler’s TL;DR Sec survey with security leaders who stated that their #1 pain point was Access Management.
Twine’s platform equips cybersecurity teams with AI Digital Employees who work alongside cyber teams to complete their security objectives. Twine’s Alex, the first-of-many digital cybersecurity employees, is trained to understand and take care of identity management tasks from start to finish, and help organizations maximize their performance
Identity and access management (IAM) is a key focus for Twine Security—how does your solution stand out from competitors in this crowded market?
What sets us apart is our focus on proactive execution that enhances the security posture of any organization. Twine presents a technology that fully replicates - and outperforms - traditional cyber execution capabilities.
Alex takes actions - investigates and proactively closes gaps in the workflow - to finally allow this end-to-end execution of Identity and Access Management (IAM) objectives. It’s completely different from simple, legacy solutions - It’s like having an actual superhuman joining your team
With cybersecurity threats evolving rapidly, how does Twine Security stay ahead of emerging risks and ensure its solutions remain effective?
Organizations understand that Identity is the most critical attack vector, they see the major identity-based breaches in the past year, and they are feeling the pain more than ever before. The global average cost of a data breach is $4.88M according to a recent survey from IBM.
To remain at the forefront of Identity security, Twine makes sure that our AI Digital Employees are as similar as possible to human employees: the more experience they gain - the better they get. On top of that, they always learn, add skills to their skills set, and stay ahead of emerging risks to allow their cyber teams to focus on strategic matters.
We put a lot of effort into making each AI Digital Employee a subject-matter expert in their domain and a data wizard. The idea is not to add another tool - but rather to use the organization’s existing tools in the smartest way possible. Not to simply show managers where they are in the process - but to have the AI Digital Employee with a deterministic nature that is able to learn, investigate and run on tasks for an end-to-end execution. We provide organizations with peace of mind at a fraction of the cost and a new member of the team that is fully dedicated to proactive, A to Z cyber execution.
What trends or challenges in cybersecurity do you foresee shaping the industry over the next five years, and how is Twine Security preparing for them?
We believe that the future of cybersecurity lies in augmenting workforces with non-human AI Digital Employees and capabilities. This combination of human employees and AI is going to completely change how cybersecurity is done and help address the industry’s critical talent and resilience gaps. In the near future, teams will be able to maximize efficiency and unlock unparalleled capabilities, allowing them to respond to threats and risks faster, make smarter decisions, and a better use of their existing tools
5 Key Identity and Access Management (IAM) Mechanisms
Proactive IAM strategies focusing on authentication mechanisms, access controls, privileged accounts, identity federations, and identity repositories have become essential to maintaining robust security.
Check out Twine’s blog diving deeper into the 5 key mechanism!
📈 The Biggest Growth Areas of 2024 📈
Generative AI 💡
2024 has seen some of the biggest advancements in Generative AI, with Generative AI in cybersecurity marking a transformative change in how security professionals anticipate, identify, and address threats.
In this field, the power of generative AI works in two ways: it serves as a tool for cybercriminals and an equally powerful resource for cybersecurity teams dedicated to preventing and mitigating cyber threats.
2025 Predictions for Generative AI
More sophisticated AI-powered attacks
A emphasis on investments in security for AI
A greater need for human oversight.
Read more about Generative AI and what this means for Cybersecurity here!
There has been a concerning 223% rise in the number of deepfakes shared on DarkWeb forums. Reality Defender’s advanced multi-model, multimodal deepfake detection platform enables enterprises and governments to identify AI-generated content at scale.
Check out the deepfake of our own Steffen Foley that the Reality Defender team created for us in a matter of minutes!
IoT Security 🌐
IoT Security is another buzzword in Cybersecurity this year. More than ever IoT Security is crucial to protecting companies and individuals data alike. With billions of IoT devices deployed across industries—from smart homes to healthcare and industrial systems—the attack surface for cybercriminals is growing exponentially.
Statista predicts that the number of IoT devices will reach 75 billion by 2025, creating a massive attack surface for cybercriminals.
Our 2025 Predications for IoT Security
Organizations will demand resilience. The CrowdStrike outage this summer underscored the need for better testing of automated updates.
Introduction of more stringent laws to protect the security and privacy of IoT deployments.
Heavier reliance on blockchain technology.
💰 Investing Trends of 2024 💰
2024 has witnessed remarkable funding rounds and investments, fuelling significant growth across the board. In the final edition of CyberBytes: The Newsletter for 2024, we’re highlighting some of the most notable investment trends of the year.
🔦 Notable Investments to Highlight
After the (potential) rise and fall of G-Wiz - Google’s failed aqusition of Wiz, Wiz announced an impressive $1 billion funding round in 2024, bringing the company’s valuation to $12 billion.
AI has undeniably been a major topic of discussion this year, and Cyera’s remarkable $300 million Series D funding round last month has been no exception. Cyera’s platform leverages an AI-driven approach to help organizations discover, classify, and protect their data in real time. Read more about it here!
No conversation about investments would be complete without highlighting Semperis's impressive $125 million growth financing from J.P. Morgan and Hercules Capital. Semperis stands at the forefront of identity-driven cyber resilience, offering a robust identity system defense platform trusted by some of the world's largest enterprises and government agencies.
Semperis' growth funding of $125M further validates our robust hybrid identity system security offerings and allows us to accelerate global expansion in 2025. Not only will we utilize this funding to expand our talented team of Semperians but we will also continue to lead the industry in product innovation and service offerings.
📈 VC Funding -
Data from Crunchbase suggests that VC funding for Cybersecurity startups grew a significant amount compared to the previous year, with an estimated $2.7 billion across 157 startups.
VC funding has also maintained stability this year, returning to almost pre pandemic levels, suggesting that 2025 will be a great year for funding rounds. There has been a noticeable focus on innovation, with a larger percentage of VC’s opting to back cybersecurity startups that are bringing something new to the industry.
🚀 Areas of Investment -
AI - AI has been a a major buzzword this year, as we mentioned above, with investments in AI have continued to soar.
SOC Automation - The use of technology and tools to automate routine tasks and processes within a security operations has been another key investment area.
🚨 Calling All Sales Leaders! 🚨
Our brand-new content series with sales leadership expert Andrew Monaghan has nearly concluded, but the insights are here to stay! In this series, Andrew dives into actionable strategies to improve 1st to 2nd meeting conversion rates—a game-changer for sales professionals looking to close more deals.
This series is packed with insights, short videos, and practical tips you can start using today.
P.S. Follow the link below to receive a very special discount off a conversion rate coaching sessions from Andrew himself!
🎙️ CyberBytes Spotlights: Trailblazers from The Cyber 60 List! 🎙️
In this edition of CyberBytes, we’re thrilled to spotlight some of the brightest minds from The Cyber 60 list! Our podcast has had the privilege of hosting industry trailblazers who are shaping the future of cybersecurity. From groundbreaking insights to inspiring success stories, these guests are leading the charge in the fight against cyber threats. Don’t miss out on these powerful conversations—tune in now!
1. The Long Tail Consequences of Cyber Security Law - Andy Lunsford, BreachRX ⚖️
It was a pleasure to welcome Andy Lundsford CEO & Co-Founder of BreachRX, on to the 2024 BlackHat Edition of CyberBytes. BreachRX are a seed stage vendor who have an Incident Response platform that offers end-to-end guidance throughout a Cyber incident to all internal teams.
Check out the full episode here!
2. Managing Non Human Identities with Danny Brickman, Oasis Security
We were joined by Danny Brickman, Co-Founder & CEO @ Oasis Security, a leading platform for non-human identity management, back in April of this year. Joe and Danny discussed identity security and how it has evolved, AI, data, access, and much more.
You can find the full episode here!
3. Winning the RSA Sandbox: 1 Year On - Chris Sestito, HiddenLayer🔒
Back at BlackHat 2024 we were joined by Chris Sestito for the second time, taking a look back at the year HiddenLayer have had.
Check out the full episode here!
4. Modernise Your Identity Security - Niv Goldenberg, Linx Security 🛡️
In this episode we were joined by Niv Goldenberg, Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder of Linx Security. Linx Security is a leading modern Identity Security solution who had just emerged from stealth with a nice $33m from leading investors, including Index and Cyberstarts.
Watch the full episode here!
5. Scaling Startups & Securing the Software Supply Chain - Nic LaBuz, Endor Labs 💨
At RSA 2024, we sat down with Nic LaBuz to discuss Nic’s background and journey to Endor Labs, how Endor Labs are innovating and much more.
Check out the full episode here!
🚀 Upwind Security Rises to New Heights with $100 Million in Series A Funding! 🚀
Upwind Security has secured $100 million in Series A funding, propelling the company to new heights as it strengthens its position in the cybersecurity.
Upwind Security is on a mission to empower customers to operate cloud environments securely and efficiently, enabling them to accelerate their businesses and focus on future opportunities. Founded by the team behind Spot.io, a global leader in cloud infrastructure optimization acquired by NetApp, Upwind Security leverages unmatched expertise in cloud infrastructure to redefine cybersecurity.
Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to sit down with Amiram Shachar, the CEO and Co-Founder of Upwind Security, to learn more about the company’s journey and mission. Watch the full episode below!
🔥 Hot Job Highlights 🔥
Interested in advancing your career in cybersecurity? Look no further! We've curated a selection of top-tier positions currently available through exclusive searches. Explore our featured roles below and connect with us at [email protected] for further details!
📢 VP of Sales - Series A - US
We’re working on VP of Sales search for a recently funded Series A Cybersecurity Client. They are one of the first companies in this cutting edge and innovative space which is creating a new category in security. They have an awesome executive team and backed by leading security investors.
📢 Contributing and Founding Sellers - Series A - US
We’re working exclusively with a variety of early stage vendors across the US, looking to expand their sales teams. For more information on the available roles, send us an email to [email protected] to find out more!
Reach out to us at [email protected] to find out more!
🚀 Top Talent Trends for 2025 🚀
This year has brought significant developments in cybersecurity hiring, driven by the emergence of new tools, evolving risks, and fresh opportunities. The demand for top-tier cybersecurity talent has never been greater as organizations navigate an increasingly complex threat landscape.
 | One of the standout trends has been the surge in hiring for Operational Technology (OT) security roles. As critical infrastructure and industrial systems become prime targets for cyberattacks, organizations have placed an increased emphasis on protecting these environments. A significant number of the placements we’ve made this year have been within OT security, signaling its growing importance in the broader cybersecurity ecosystem. |
2025 Predictions: Where the Focus Will Be
As we look ahead to 2025, OT security is poised to remain a top priority for hiring. With industries like energy, manufacturing, and transportation continuing to adopt digital solutions, the need for specialists in securing these operational systems will only grow.
We also anticipate increased demand for expertise in AI-enhanced threat detection, zero-trust architecture, and data privacy compliance as organizations adapt to shifting regulations and threats. The cybersecurity talent landscape is more dynamic than ever, and we’re excited to help connect top-tier professionals with opportunities that make an impact.
📈 From Vision to Acquisition 📈
At Aspiron Search, we're proud to have played a key role in helping our venture partners achieve exceptional growth through strategic, top-tier hires—contributing to their successful acquisitions.
For us, partnerships go beyond the typical recruiter-client relationship. We strive to deliver real value, leveraging our extensive network and deep industry expertise to drive meaningful results.
💡 Network Perception 💡
Network Perception was founded in 2014 with a mission to protect critical infrastructure from escalating cyber threats
We've partnered with Network Perception across multiple roles, delivering top talent and making a significant impact on their team. Earlier this year, Network Perception was acquired by Dragos. This acquisition enhances remote access security by focusing on firewall policies, access paths, and network segmentation.
“Aspiron’s support on attracting executive talent enabled us to get to where we are today.”
🚀 AirGap 🚀
In April 2024, it was announced that AirGap Networks had been acquired by Zscaler. This strategic move combined Zscaler’s Zero Trust SD-WAN with AirGap’s technology to enhance the Zero Trust Exchange, providing robust protection for east-west traffic across branch offices, campuses, factories, and critical OT infrastructure.
We’re proud to have played a role in AirGap’s growth by expanding their team, adding value, and contributing to their journey toward this significant acquisition.
"We partnered with Aspiron shortly after our Series A raise. They made multiple critical GTM hires which helped enable a successful acquisition."
🌐 Looking For Your Next Role in Cybersecurity? 🌐
Here at Aspiron Search, we’re committed to supporting you to find your next role in cybersecurity. By understanding your motivations and what makes you tick, we can provide the right opportunities and advice to get you hired!
Contact us at [email protected] to find out more!
Could YOU Be The Next Sponsor of CyberBytes: The Newsletter?
If you’re interested in sponsoring CyberBytes: The Newsletter and showcasing your brand, get in touch by at [email protected] today!