British cyber security start-up Panaseer has raised $3.25m (£2.5m) in the wake of the global WannaCry ransomware attack to develop its product and make further inroads into the US. Panaseer uses data analytics to look for risks within companies’ computer systems and mitigate them before they can be used by cyber criminals. “We help companies get their security hygiene to an acceptable state,” says Nik Whitfield, chief executive and founder of Panaseer. Whitfield left BAE Systems’ cyber security department to found Panaseer in 2014. “The pace of change in cyber security is so rapid that in order to keep up and be relevant you need to innovate fast and doing that inside a big corporation is hard,” said Whitfield. “I wanted to set up a small expert company that could innovate quickly and work with customers that were able to work at the same speed.” Having started the company in his Surrey basement in 2014, Panaseer now has a staff of 30 and its customers include FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 firms in London, New York and Boston. Whitfield said the company uses data analytics techniques to advise companies where to spend money on security. He said many companies are still too focused on fixing problems rather than preventing them.
UK-based cyber-security start-up Panaseer has raised £2.5m ($3.3m) in funding from investors including Palladin Capital Group and Evolution Equity Partners. Panaseer, which deploys data analytics strategies to identify risks within companies' IT systems and recommends where they should spend on security, is using the funds to develop its product and expand further into the US. Many firms are still concentrating on fixing, rather than preempting, cyber attacks, according to Whitfield, CEO of Panaseer.