Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity company and leader in endpoint protection, has acquired an emerging company, Brain4Net. The organization has been developing solutions and services to help enterprises and service providers adapt modern technologies, such as Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), with existing network infrastructure. Brain4Net’s team is joining the company and will contribute to building Kaspersky’s compelling network security strategy, as well as a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and evolved XDR offering.
According to IDC, worldwide “whole cloud” spending is forecast to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. In this context, accelerated by the pandemic and its impact on remote workforces, it becomes difficult for organizations to manage and protect their distributed infrastructures from advanced threats. SD-WAN enables teams to overcome this challenge by providing efficient management and simplifying the use of security functions for the protection of the entire infrastructure.
Moving forward with a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) offering
A remote workforce combined with large volumes of data and traffic moving between public cloud services and branch offices and data centers, dictates the need for immediate, stable, and secure access for users regardless of their location. This has informed a new network security concept, dubbed by Gartner as Secure Access Service Edge or SASE, which brings security and connectivity together as required.
By acquiring Brain4Net, Kaspersky aims to bring a completely new SASE offering to the market as a unified platform that will combine Kaspersky’s best-in-class security solutions and technologies with Brain4Net’s network orchestration and control capabilities and expertise. Due to this strategic move, Kaspersky will be able to offer its enterprise customers both security and connectivity services.
In particular, Kaspersky’s future SASE offering will eventually include a cloud access security broker (CASB), cloud secure web gateway (SWG), cloud workload protection platform (CWPP), cloud security posture management (CSPM), zero-trust network access (ZTNA), and other services.
Evolution of advanced Kaspersky XDR
Existing security solutions may not deliver a holistic approach to detecting and remediating advanced threats. Integrations of third-party network controls into Extended Detection and Response (XDR) class solutions from endpoint security vendors alone do not provide enough visibility and investigation capabilities over incidents happening inside enterprise environments.
This acquisition will also allow Kaspersky to evolve its existing solutions into full-scale Extended Detection and Response (XDR). SASE brings obvious benefits for XDR, including the ability to collect telemetry from network traffic, stop an attack anywhere across the edge and the network, and simplify orchestration and management due to a single point of control through SASE.
The new XDR offering based on a cloud-native EDR solution will provide visibility and advanced functionality for Al-based detection and auto-response logic across all endpoints and the network. In particular, Kaspersky XDR will bring a wide range of automated incident response scenarios (from blocking a file execution on an endpoint to blocking certain network segments or internal infrastructure for certain users or types of users) along with network segmentation tools.
Furthermore, Kaspersky XDR will be based on unified server architecture and will provide centralized management from a single web console. Customers will be able to control and reliably protect all popular entry points for potential threats: network, web traffic, email, workstations, servers, and virtual machines. Working together, the XDR platform with SASE will allow enterprises to implement a zero-trust strategy. In addition to built-in advanced technology detection and analysis, the platform will benefit from world-leading threat intelligence (TI) which is constantly updated and validated by leading Kaspersky experts.
One ecosystem for corporate security
All these components will become an integral part of the single ecosystem which is Kaspersky’s vision for the future of corporate cybersecurity. The central element of this ecosystem is the Kaspersky Open Single Management Platform. It will become a single cloud-native technological platform to build Kaspersky XDR and will use deployment model agnostic architecture. This way, the platform could be used across the public cloud, private cloud, or even on-premises.
“We are excited to join forces with Brain4Net’s talented team who have already built mature world-class technologies and services for network orchestration and control. I’m confident that their knowledge and experience, combined with Kaspersky’s most awarded security technologies and recognized threat expertise will blend perfectly with our vision for corporate security, while new offerings will help security officers speed up threat detection, investigation, and remediation, reducing mean time to response,” says Andrey Efremov, Chief Business Development Officer at Kaspersky.
Max Kaminskiy, CEO and co-founder at Brain4Net, adds: “We are delighted to join the Kaspersky team. The spread of SD-WAN technology needs a strong business scenario, that is why we are partnering with Kaspersky XDR. Brain4Net’s choice of technologies confirms the high level of the company’s products and competencies. Together we will continue to make the world a safer and more comfortable place.”
More information about the Kaspersky Open Single Management Platform is available on the website.
About Brain4Net
Brain4Net, Inc. is the innovative SDN/NFV solutions provider for large, medium Enterprises and Service Providers. B4N Platform provides comprehensive network Orchestration & Control solution for Multi-Vendor network infrastructure. Our approach helps organizations bring agility to the network, improve network service chaining and reduce both CAPEX and OPEX for network infrastructure deployment and operations. www.brain4net.com
About Kaspersky
Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 240,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.
APPENDIX
Quotes from Brain4Net investors
“Rostelecom became a shareholder of Brain4Net in 2016 and since then has made several more rounds of investment to advance the company’s products. Over the past five years, in addition to investments, Rostelecom has helped Brain4Net in the development of technologies, providing its competencies and platforms for testing and piloting products. We are delighted that our faith in SD-WAN technology has been realized in synergy with Kaspersky Lab’s next-generation network security services strategy, SASE security edge services and full-scale Extended Detection and Response (XDR). For Rostelecom, Brain4Net is a successful venture project, from which we exit with a profit, and which once again confirms Rostelecom’s correct approach to working with Russian startups in general and the formation of an investment portfolio in particular,” added Alexander Ayvazov, Vice President of Business Development at Rostelecom PJSC.
“The Brain4Net team creates outstanding products that meet the best international standards. Typhoon Digital Development became an investor in the company in 2017, over the years the company’s clients and we have become convinced of the promise of SD-WAN technology. This was fully appreciated by the strategic investor – Kaspersky Lab, whose expertise and exactingness to modern digital products is well known. With Kaspersky, Brain4Net will receive a new impulse for its development, and we are very happy for the guys. They definitely deserve it,” says Oleg Bratishko, Managing Partner of Typhoon Digital Development Venture Fund.
“We invested in Brain4Net in 2017 due to the team of professionals with a very solid product that automated network management. The acquisition of the company by the strategic player and its future integration into the corporate security ecosystem confirmed our hypothesis that such a technology was promising. This is the exit for our first fund, founded in 2012. We wish the Brain4Net team success and I am sure that this is a new exciting challenge for them and an opportunity for their product to grow faster,” comments Alexander Chachava, Managing Partner at LETA Capital.
About Rostelecom
Rostelecom PJSC is the largest integrated provider of digital services and solutions in Russia. It is present in all market segments and covers millions of households as well as public and private organizations.
The company occupies a leading position in the market of high-speed internet access and pay-TV services. Rostelecom has more than 13.5 million broadband subscribers and 10.8 million pay-TV subscribers, of which over 6.3 million are IPTV. Rostelecom’s subsidiary operator Tele2 Russia is a major player in the mobile communications market, serving more than 46.6 million subscribers jointly with Rostelecom and leading in the NPS (Net Promoter Score) index – which surveys the willingness of users to recommend the company’s services.
Rostelecom is the market leader in telecommunications services for Russian government authorities and corporate users of all levels.
The company is a recognized technology leader in innovative solutions in e-government, cybersecurity, data centers and cloud computing, biometrics, healthcare, education, housing and communal services.
About Typhoon Digital Development
Since 2013, the Typhoon Digital Development venture fund has been investing in promising Russian digital projects. The focus of the fund is advanced developments in the field of artificial intelligence and applied solutions for telecoms. The fund is managed by Oleg Bratishko, a serial entrepreneur and a recognized expert in the implementation of digital technologies.
About LETA Capital
Leta Capital venture firm has grown from the investment strategy of Leta Group – a group of successful IT-companies. Investment areas: IT and Internet technologies for different economic sectors based on strong R&D, mostly in b2b area, which can disrupt an existing market or make it more efficient, such as Business Intelligence, Big Data Analysis, Machine Learning approach, AI-based technologies for different industries, traditional business process optimization or replacement, robotics for business (logistics, production, etc.). Investment rounds: Late Seed and Early growth stages.