UPDATED 07:00 EDT / FEBRUARY 22 2022

SECURITY

IoT security startup Phosphorus raises $38M to fuel growth and development

“Internet of things” security startup Phosphorus Cybersecurity Inc. today announced that it has raised $38 million in new funding to fuel growth and technology development and enhance its user experience.

SYN Ventures and MassMutual Ventures led the Series A round. Including the new funding, Phosphorus has raised $43 million to date, according to data from Crunchbase. Previous investors include General Advance and Atypical Ventures.

Founded in 2017, Phosphorus pitches itself as providing a platform that eliminates the IoT security gap. The company’s platform is integrated into existing security orchestration, meaning companies can bring the same level of security and convenience to the IoT half of an enterprise without adding manpower.

The company claims that 20% to 30% of today’s corporate networks are comprised of IoT devices, with little to no security programs in place. Across the enterprise, as high as 26% of all IoT devices are at the end of their life, no longer supported with firmware updates by their manufacturer. In addition, it’s claimed that as many as 50% have known vulnerabilities or default passwords. A fifth of those vulnerabilities are critical common vulnerabilities and exposures with a high score of nine and above out of 10.

Phosphorus recently observed one case in which hackers launched a ransomware attack on a prominent U.S. company after infiltrating the network through an unprotected door controller.

Phosphorus has seen strong demand for its platform, and it has doubled its headcount over the last year. The company is also a U.S. government contractor and a participant in the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX advanced technologies program.

“The tens of billions of IoT devices in use today are highly insecure and vulnerable to a wide range of attacks, which expose enterprises to many serious risks, from data breaches to ransomware,” Chris Rouland, founder and chief executive officer of Phosphorus, said in a statement. “We have secured millions of IoT devices in our customer environments and I remain surprised at how lax these security practices have been, particularly since IoT is becoming a more important attack vector and growing rapidly year over year.”

Image: Phosphorus Cybersecurity

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