CYGNVS exits stealth, trumpeting its cyberattack recovery platform

Cyber recovery startup CYGNVS announced its emergence from stealth today, having raised $55 million in series A funding and created a highly functional "cyber crisis" platform which promises to help organizations recover from major breaches.

The company's product is in its name - CYGNVS says it's an acronym for Cyber GuidaNce Virtual Space. It's effectively an all-in-one disaster recovery system for cyberattacks. It provides out-of-band communications between key team members, since corporate networks may become compromised by attackers, easy access to external experts, and pre-built, interactive "playbooks" to guide teams through the recovery process. It also offers the ability to run simulations in order to practice cyber incident response, auditing and compliance tools to sooth regulatory concerns, and fast onboarding with mobile apps and browsers alike.

The system was developed in partnership with insurance giant AIG, which provided expertise throughout its development, and is available both directly from the company and as a benefit of some cyber insurance policies.

Cybersecurity-specific disaster recovery

It's a step in the right direction for a lot of organizations, according to Phil Goodwin, research vice president of infrastructure software platforms at IDC. He tells CSO that, too often, companies are using garden-variety disaster recovery, which is designed to cover physical disasters, as a substitute for real cyber recovery - which doesn't really address the issue.

"Our research shows that about 85% of organizations believe they're fully prepared to deal with a cyber event, but half of [victims] have to pay the ransom, and less than a third are able to fully recover," Goodwin says. "There's a gap between perceived readiness and reality."

There are lots of reasons for organizations to adopt dedicated cyber recovery solutions, not least of which is that standard disaster recovery tends to rely on uncorrupted backups - which cannot be counted on in the event of, for example, a ransomware attacks. Nor are forensic analysis tools standard-issue for such products.

Between standout features of CYGNVS's product like the playbook, and its overall focus on cyber response, the startup has a chance to make a meaningful mark on the security landscape, Goodwin says.

"I think it has the potential to be really, really interesting, because it fills that void that is the gap between disaster recovery and cyber response," Goodwin says. "We still need to see proof points of how it works, but it could be really interesting."