ZeroFox

ZeroFox Holdings, Inc.
Company typePrivate company
Nasdaq: ZFOX
ISINUS98955G1031
Industry
Founded2013; 11 years ago (2013)
Founders
  • James C. Foster
  • Evan L. Blair
HeadquartersBaltimore, Maryland
Number of locations
3
Owner
  • Haveli Investments
  • (2024–present)
SubsidiariesIDX
Websitewww.zerofox.com

ZeroFox Holdings, Inc. is an external cybersecurity company based in Baltimore, Maryland.[1][2] It provides cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) for organizations to expose and disrupt phishing and fraud campaigns, botnet exposures, credential theft, impersonations, data breaches, and physical threats that target brands, domains, people, and assets.

History

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ZeroFox was created in 2013 under the name Riskive, but changed to its current name months later. The company began as a startup in an 8,000 sq. ft. space inside Betamore - a startup incubator in Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood.

In 2015, ZeroFox raised $27 million in Series B funding. By 2016, the company had outgrown its space and moved to an 18,000 sq. ft. space inside a former Pabst Brewing facility in South Baltimore.[3] In 2017, ZeroFox raised $40 million in funding led by Redline Capital Management, a European venture firm, and Silver Lake Waterman, a fund that focuses on pre-IPO companies. Prior investors New Enterprise Associates, Highland Capital Partners and Core Capital also contributed. The investment helped bring ZeroFox's total funding to $88 million.[4]

ZeroFox partners with other software organizations such as IBM, Hootsuite, Splunk, ThreatQuotient, and others to visualize, analyze, and predict cyber security threats to respond quickly to reduce the impact of incidents.[5] ZeroFox partners with Google Cloud to warn users against phishing domains.[6]

In 2020, ZeroFox closed a new $74 million round of financing led by Intel Capital. This funding round was one of the largest a Maryland cyber firm has landed in recent years. This brings ZeroFox's backing to $162 million to date.[7]

The company went public on August 4, 2022 through a $1.4B SPAC deal. In the deal, ZeroFox also acquired ID Experts Holdings, Inc. (“IDX”). The combined company was then called ZeroFox Holdings, Inc. and traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol “ZFOX” for its common stock and “ZFOXW” for its publicly traded warrants.[8][9][10]

Purchase

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On February 6, 2024, ZeroFox announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Haveli Investments, a leading private equity firm focused on enterprise software and cybersecurity. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Haveli Investments will acquire ZeroFox in an all-cash transaction at an enterprise value of approximately $350 million.[11]

On May 13, 2024, it was announced that Haveli Investments had completed the purchase of ZeroFox Holdings.[12]

Acquisitions

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  • In October 2020, ZeroFox acquired Cyveillance from LookingGlass in a move designed to merge Cyveillance's threat intelligence data cache and dark web intelligence capabilities with the ZeroFox Digital Risk Protection Platform.[13]
  • In July 2021, the company acquired Vigilante, a dark web threat intelligence company.[14]
  • In August 2022, the company acquired IDX, a breach response company.[15][16]
  • In April 2023, the company acquired LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, an external attack surface management and threat intelligence company.[17]

Recognition

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  • 2018 Forrester Wave™: Leader in Digital Risk Protection[18]
  • 2021 Forrester Wave™ External Threat Intelligence Services: Best-in-class for Brand Threat Intelligence Use Cases And Takedown Service[19]
  • 2022 Frost & Sullivan Global Competitive Strategy Leadership Award: Digital Risk Protection, Global[20]
  • 2023 Cyber Defense Magazine Global Infosec Awards: Best Threat Intelligence Technology; Cutting Edge Executive Protection; Next Gen Threat Intelligence [21][22]
  • 2023 Maryland Daily Record Cybersecurity Power List [23]
  • 2023 SPARK Matrix™: Technology Leader in Digital Risk Protection by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions [24]
  • 2023 Forrester Wave™: Top Threat Intelligence Provider in External Threat Intelligence Services [25]
  • 2023 Enterprise Security Tech Awards: Cyber Top 20 [26][27]
  • 2023 CyberSecurity Breakthrough Award: Incident Response Solution of the Year[28][29]

Controversies

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Freddie Gray protest surveillance

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The company faced criticism over its handling of the 2015 protests over the death of Freddie Gray when it singled out its nonviolent organizers. ZeroFox labeled DeRay McKesson and Johnetta Elzie as high physical threats to law enforcement despite not being suspected of any criminal activity.[30][31][32] ZeroFox was unsuccessful at differentiating between impersonating troll accounts and Elzie's actual social media presence.[33]

FBI contract and the January 6 Capitol Attack

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ZeroFox signed a $14 million social media intelligence contract with the FBI on Dec 30, 2020, taking over from Dataminr, which held the contract until Dec. 31, 2020. This transition period led to decreased visibility leading up to the 2021 United States Capitol attack, and led agents to calling it an expletive sounding similar to ZeroFox.[34][35][36]

References

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  1. ^ Tweney, Dylan (April 30, 2014). "Funding Daily: Very big private equity and very small microgadgets". Venture Beat. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  2. ^ Kulwin, Noah (Dec 8, 2015). "Capital Gains: Another $2 Billion Crosses Into Uber's Event Horizon, Peloton Raises Big Cash". ReCode. Retrieved Dec 6, 2015.
  3. ^ "South Baltimore Business Roundup". Southbmore.com. 21 January 2016.
  4. ^ "South Baltimore Business Roundup". Southbmore.com. 19 July 2017.
  5. ^ "ZeroFox Global Partner Program". ZeroFox.com. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  6. ^ Sharma, Shweta (2023-04-11). "ZeroFox partners with Google Cloud to warn users against phishing domains". CSO Online. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  7. ^ "Baltimore's ZeroFox raises one of Maryland's largest funding rounds for cyber firms". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  8. ^ Claman, Liz (4 August 2022). "ZeroFox proactively attacks cyber threats from 'Main Street to Mars': CEO". Fox Business.
  9. ^ Spencer, Malia (4 August 2022). "ZeroFox goes public in a SPAC, completes acquisition of Portland's IDX". American City Business Journals.
  10. ^ Zurier, Steve (4 August 2022). "IT security company ZeroFox goes public despite concerns over market conditions". SC Media.
  11. ^ https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/02/06/2824352/0/en/ZeroFox-to-be-Acquired-by-Haveli.html
  12. ^ "Haveli Investments Completes Acquisition of ZeroFox". ZeroFox Holdings. 2024-05-13. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
  13. ^ Osborne, Charlie. "ZeroFox acquires Cyveillance threat intelligence business from LookingGlass". ZDNet. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  14. ^ "ZeroFox acquires dark web threat intelligence company Vigilante". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  15. ^ "ZeroFox Begins Trading on Nasdaq Under Symbol "ZFOX"". ZeroFox. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  16. ^ "Cybersecurity company ZeroFox acquires IDX, merges with L&F to create $1.4 billion entity". ZDNET. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  17. ^ "ZeroFox Completes Acquisition of LookingGlass". ZeroFox. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  18. ^ "ZeroFox Named A Leader in Digital Risk Protection". ZeroFox. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  19. ^ "ZeroFox Expands Threat Intelligence Capabilities with Exclusive Visibility into External Threats". ZeroFox. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Frost & Sullivan Recognizes ZeroFox with 2022 Global Competitive Strategy Leadership Award in Digital Risk Protection". GlobeNewswire. 7 March 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  21. ^ "Global INFOSEC Awards for 2023 Winners by Company". Cyber Defense Awards. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  22. ^ "Cyber Defense Magazine Announces Winners of the Global InfoSec Awards 2023". CISION PRWeb. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  23. ^ "Introducing The Daily Record's 2023 Cybersecurity Power List". Maryland The Daily Record. 31 May 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  24. ^ "ZeroFox Named Digital Risk Protection Leader by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions in 2023 SPARK Matrix™". Yahoo!finance. 17 August 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  25. ^ "ZeroFox Recognized as a Top Threat Intelligence Provider in Forrester Wave: External Threat Intelligence Services, Q3, 2023". ZeroFox. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  26. ^ "The Cyber Top 20". Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  27. ^ "ZeroFox Named to the Enterprise Security Tech 2023 Cyber Top 20 Awards List". Yahoo!finance. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  28. ^ "2023 Award Winners". Cybersecurity Breakthrough Awards. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  29. ^ "ZeroFox Wins "Incident Response Solution of the Year" 2023 CyberSecurity Breakthrough Award". GlobeNewswire. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  30. ^ "Baltimore's ZeroFox faces backlash over riot threat report; CEO James Foster responds"
  31. ^ "Activist DeRay Mckesson's Social Media Has Been Monitored by Department of Homeland Security: Report". The Root. August 15, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  32. ^ Brandon E. Patterson (3 August 2015). "Black Lives Matter organizers were labeled as "threat actors" by a cybersecurity firm". Mother Jones. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  33. ^ Klippenstein, Ken (2023-07-06). "FBI Hired Social Media Surveillance Firm That Labeled Black Lives Matter Organizers "Threat Actors"". The Intercept. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  34. ^ Davis, Aaron C. (31 October 2021). "Warnings of violence before Jan. 6 precipitated the Capitol riot". Washington Post. Retrieved 31 October 2021. But the end-of-the-year changeover limited the FBI's understanding of what was happening online at a key juncture, just as extremists were mobilizing. FBI agents started using an alternative service known as ZeroFox that was unfamiliar to many in the bureau. The change came as a surprise, causing confusion about how to use the new system. Some agents and analysts felt the new service was a significant downgrade, particularly when it came to tracking things on Twitter. Within the FBI, some frustrated agents quickly started using a derisive nickname for ZeroFox — replacing the "Fox" with a similar-sounding expletive, to indicate how little use it seemed to have.31"It wasn't that we were blind, it just turned out to be a bad time to have less visibility into what was happening online, because we were changing systems and a lot of people didn't really know the new system," said one person familiar with the matter.
  35. ^ Dilanian, Ken (8 March 2021). "Why did the FBI miss the threats about Jan. 6 on social media?". NBC News. Retrieved 1 November 2021. Fact check: false. FBI agents have said in court records that they monitor public social media, and the bureau recently signed a $14 million contract with a "threat intelligence" company called ZeroFox "to proactively identify threats to the United States and its interests" on the internet. For years, the FBI has had a similar arrangement with DataMinr, which can flag social media postings of interest to its clients.
  36. ^ "FBI Social Media Alerting". Sam.gov.
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