U.K. cybersecurity firm CybaVerse is expanding its team after raising $1.4 million.
The company announced the fundraise on its website Monday (Oct. 28), saying it would use the capital to speed the development of its platform and expand its team.
It has already appointed three senior leaders, including cybersecurity expert Andreas Wuchner, the company’s new chairman and veteran of companies like Deutsche Bank, UBS and HP, according to the announcement.
“His remarkable track record at some of the world’s leading organizations brings a wealth of knowledge and insight that will be invaluable as CybaVerse continues to grow and push boundaries in the industry,” the announcement said. “Andreas’s leadership will play a key role in helping CybaVerse achieve its goals and further grow the company.”
CybaVerse’s offerings included its new CybaVerse AI platform, designed to simplify cybersecurity management for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), per the announcement.
The company’s new funding comes as businesses are facing increasing cyber threats, such as ransomware attacks, as PYMNTS reported last month.
One report showed that between early 2023 and mid-June 2024, ransomware climbed to a record-breaking $459.8 million, with the median ransom payment in these attacks jumping from about $200,000 to $1.5 million.
The leap in the value of ransom payments suggests that cybercriminals are going after businesses instead of individuals in hopes of a larger payday.
“If you feel like you know everything in security, you don’t,” Ron Green, cybersecurity fellow and former chief security officer at Mastercard, told PYMNTS in August for the series “What’s Next in Payments: Protecting the Perimeter.”
One of the common obstacles many organizations face internally is the notion that security measures slow down business processes, he said. The reality is that when security is integrated from the start, it improves agility.
“You’re only as secure as your weakest link,” Finexio Chief Strategy Officer Chris Wyatt told PYMNTS in a separate August interview.
Businesses must have comprehensive contingency plans that include technical solutions and well-documented procedures for handling incidents as they crop up.
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