One of the leading global email cloud security and backup providers adds IT security awareness-building training to its portfolio

Pittsburgh, PA (May 24, 2022) – Hornetsecurity, a global email cloud security and backup provider, today announced the acquisition of IT-Seal, a security awareness training company.

This is the latest in a spate of growth-boosting acquisitions by Hornetsecurity since 2019, where the company purchased Spamina, the Spanish market leader for cloud email security solutions; followed by its British market partner EveryCloud in 2020; Altaro, a global provider of backup solutions and Zerospam, a Canadian email security leader, both in 2021. Backed by Verdane, the specialist Northern European growth equity investor, and PSG Equity, a leading growth equity firm, the company grew to 400 employees and a strong international network of 5,000+ channel partners in recent years.

Helping companies establish a sustainable security culture

Located in Darmstadt, Germany, IT-Seal specializes in establishing a sustainable security culture. It employs innovative technologies to train employees at businesses and organizations worldwide. The company uses a scientific, patented security awareness indicator (Employee Security Index – ESI®) to make security awareness measurable and comparable.

IT-Seal’s activities stem from the fact that every person makes an important contribution to everyone’s IT security. As a result, the company focuses on the human factor, with the vision to help secure both the digital society and the economy.

The three co-founders, David Kelm, Alex Wyllie and Yannic Ambach, will remain on board and will continue to develop the product and its range of services.

Boosting the cybersecurity awareness-prevention-detection cycle

Each of Hornetsecurity’s strategic acquisitions serve to enhance and extend the company’s position as a leading provider of security, data loss prevention and compliance solutions, with a particular focus on the Microsoft 365 environment, according to Daniel Hofmann, CEO of Hornetsecurity.

“We believe IT-Seal is a perfect addition to our portfolio. We always stress the importance of cybersecurity awareness to our partners and customers, and we provide this via informative and educational blog posts, ebooks, webinars and reports. With IT-Seal on board, we will now provide IT security training as part of our package. This enables us to cover all aspects of the awareness-prevention-detection cycle, alongside our established email security and backup and recovery solutions,” said Hofmann.

Patented methodology to measure and compare security levels

The selection of IT-Seal is the result of a thorough exploration of the field.

“We have searched long and hard for the right addition to our team, and with IT-Seal we have found a second-generation approach to security awareness. Other solutions in this space are too complex and too maintenance-intensive for customers. Through its automated approach, IT-Seal can measure and compare the human security level across industries by their patented technology,” said Hofmann.

Easy-to-use IT training workflow

“We are proud to be considered one of the most successful German cybersecurity start-ups. This acquisition is the perfect next step in our journey. Forming part of the Hornetsecurity Group will extend our services’ reach in the global B2B community, introducing our security training services to companies and organizations of all sizes and in all industries. This is in line with our mission to enable IT security managers to train their employees individually and reliably through our award-winning automation engine and easy-to-use workflow so that they can protect their company,” said David Kelm, idea generator and co-founder at IT-Seal.

About Hornetsecurity Group

Hornetsecurity is the leading security and backup solution provider for Microsoft 365. Its flagship product is the most extensive cloud security solution for Microsoft 365 on the market, providing robust, comprehensive, award-winning protection: Spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption, advanced threat protection, email continuity, signatures and disclaimers. It’s an all-in-one security package that even includes backup and recovery for all data in Microsoft 365 and users’ endpoints. Hornetsecurity Inc. is based in Pittsburgh, PA with other North America offices in Washington D.C. and Montreal, Canada. Globally, Hornetsecurity operates in more than 30 countries through its international distribution network. Its premium services are used by approximately 50,000 customers including Swisscom, Telefónica, KONICA MINOLTA, LVM Versicherung and CLAAS.

More info: www.hornetsecurity.com

Follow Hornetsecurity on LinkedIn

About IT-Seal

Founded in 2016, the technology company analyzes human security awareness and trains on a KPI-based and demand-driven strategy with intelligent, automated learning paths. Over 800 customers trust in the award-winning technology including the German Federal Bank, BMW and FC Bayern Munich.

More info: www.it-seal.de

Follow IT Seal on LinkedIn

About PSG Equity

PSG is a growth equity firm that partners with software and technology-enabled services companies to help them navigate transformational growth, capitalize on strategic opportunities and build strong teams. Having backed more than 100 companies and facilitated over 400 add-on acquisitions, PSG brings extensive investment experience, deep expertise in software and technology and a firm commitment to collaborating with management teams. Founded in 2014, PSG operates out of offices in Boston, Kansas City, London, Paris, Madrid and Tel-Aviv.

More info: www.psgequity.com
Follow PSG on LinkedIn

About Verdane

Verdane is a specialist growth equity investment firm that partners with tech-enabled and sustainable European businesses to help them reach the next stage of international growth. Verdane can invest as a minority or majority investor, either in single companies or through portfolios of companies, and looks to deploy behind three core themes; the Digital Consumer, Software Everywhere and Sustainable Society. Verdane funds hold close to €4bn in total commitments and have made over 135 investments in fast-growing businesses since 2003. Verdane’s team of over 100 investment professionals and operating experts, based out of Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm, is dedicated to being the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled and sustainable businesses in Europe.

More info: www.verdane.com
Follow Verdane on LinkedIn

Media enquiries

Please contact us on press@hornetsecurity.com.

USA and UK join Germany as Hornetsecurity M365 backup storage regions

Pittsburgh, PA (April 20, 2022) – Hornetsecurity, a global email security and backup provider, has added the USA and the UK to the regions that partners and customers can automatically back up their Microsoft 365 data to, using the Hornetsecurity solutions, 365 Total Backup and 365 Total Protection Enterprise Backup.

365 Total Backup enables Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to provide backup and recovery services for Microsoft 365 mailboxes, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint. They can easily take backups and manage them through a multi-tenant, cloud-based console. 365 Total Protection Enterprise Backup combines this functionality with state-of-the-art email security that protects against spam, viruses, phishing and ransomware; as well as providing Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), email signatures and disclaimers, automated email continuity and legally compliant email archiving.

Secure, hassle-free, unlimited M365 backup storage

In both cases, the M365 data is automatically stored to Hornetsecurity’s secure data centers where storage is unlimited and redundant. Hornetsecurity partners can choose per customer, whether to store their backup data to the USA, the UK or Germany. More regions will be added shortly.

As customers’ Microsoft 365 data is automatically backed up to one of Hornetsecurity’s secure cloud backup locations, partners need not think about setting up their own servers and infrastructure to save the M365 backups to.

Additionally, they benefit from unlimited storage, which is included in the cost-effective, per-user pricing.

Data jurisdiction control

As M365 data is backed up to one of our secure data centers, customers are no longer solely dependent on Microsoft for that data. The ability to choose where to store backup data from a selection of regions provides the flexibility needed to meet data jurisdiction requirements.

Channel-centric approach

“As a global, channel-centric company, we listen to our partners and are happy to act on their feedback to deliver solutions that meet and exceed customer requirements,” said Daniel Hofmann, Hornetsecurity CEO. “We provide robust, trustworthy solutions that our customers can count on, while adding ease of use, convenience and flexibility to give them peace of mind and reduce the demands on their time.” 

About Hornetsecurity Group

Hornetsecurity is the leading security and backup solution provider for Microsoft 365. Its flagship product is the most extensive cloud security solution for Microsoft 365 on the market, providing robust, comprehensive, award-winning protection: Spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption, advanced threat protection, email continuity, signatures and disclaimers. It’s an all-in-one security package that even includes backup and recovery for all data in Microsoft 365 and users’ endpoints. Hornetsecurity Inc. is based in Pittsburgh, PA with other North America offices in Washington D.C. and Montreal, Canada. Globally, Hornetsecurity operates in more than 30 countries through its international distribution network. Its premium services are used by approximately 50,000 customers including Swisscom, Telefónica, KONICA MINOLTA, LVM Versicherung and CLAAS.

Media enquiries

Please contact us on press@hornetsecurity.com.

Katja Meyer brings vast cybersecurity and channel marketing experience to the group

Pittsburgh, PA (April 5, 2022) – Hornetsecurity, a global email security and backup provider, today announced the appointment of Katja Meyer as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, she will develop and execute the group’s global marketing strategy, heading an international team of more than 40 marketing professionals.

With a career spanning more than 20 years in the tech industry and more than 10 years specifically in cybersecurity, Meyer is an established, award-winning leader with extensive experience in marketing, channel and sales both globally and in EMEA. She joins Hornetsecurity from Kaspersky, where she last served as B2B Marketing Director Global. She has also occupied marketing leadership roles with Sophos, VMware, SAP and Sun Microsystems, after starting her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Meyer’s areas of specialization include channel marketing, partner programs, and sales-oriented marketing. Among other awards, she was voted the DACH IT Business Top 1 Channel VIP by resellers in 2018, and Top 13 Channel VIP in 2019.

“Katja Meyer’s proven track record in cybersecurity marketing, her dynamism, and her excellent leadership skills make her a perfect fit to join our executive team. As we continue to expand, her expertise will be instrumental in leveraging and evolving our channel-centric approach in all markets,” said Daniel Hofmann, CEO at Hornetsecurity.

About Hornetsecurity Group

Hornetsecurity is the leading security and backup solution provider for Microsoft 365. Its flagship product is the most extensive cloud security solution for Microsoft 365 on the market, providing robust, comprehensive, award-winning protection: Spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption, advanced threat protection, email continuity, signatures and disclaimers. It’s an all-in-one security package that even includes backup and recovery for all data in Microsoft 365 and users’ endpoints.

Hornetsecurity Inc. is based in Pittsburgh, PA with other North America offices in Washington D.C. and Montreal, Canada. Globally, Hornetsecurity operates in more than 30 countries through its international distribution network. Its premium services are used by approximately 50,000 customers including Swisscom, Telefónica, KONICA MINOLTA, LVM Versicherung, DEKRA and CLAAS.

www.hornetsecurity.com

Media enquiries

Please contact us on press@hornetsecurity.com.

The survey, conducted by Hornetsecurity, reveals that hybrid cloud solutions are the long-term target for 2 in 3 companies.

A hybrid cloud adoption survey of 900+ IT professionals primarily based in North America and Europe found that the majority of businesses (93%) are adopting a hybrid of cloud and on-premise solutions, or migrating fully to the cloud within 5 years. Half of respondents (51%) reported that they will be ‘mostly in the cloud’ in 5 years, with one or two workloads remaining on premise. 28% of respondents said they will remain ‘mostly on premise’, with a workload or two in the cloud.

67% of IT professionals see a hybrid cloud solution as a permanent destination

While 29% of respondents said they are using hybrid cloud solutions as a stepping stone to a full cloud environment, 67% of respondents see hybrid as a final destination for their infrastructure due to workloads that must remain on premise. The rest claim to be remaining 100% on premise.

When asked why companies were remaining on premise, many respondents cited data control, security, and cost concerns with cloud technology.

34% of companies cite trust issues with cloud as reason for workloads remaining on premise

The hybrid cloud adoption survey also found that trust issues with the public cloud are present within companies of all sizes, with 31-36% of all surveyed company size categories reporting concerns.

The survey also shows that with experience comes more distrust in the public cloud. Respondents with 20+ years of experience were more likely to express concerns with the trustworthiness of cloud platforms (34%) than those with 1-5 years of experience (24%). Half of all respondents mentioned ‘legacy systems or software’ as another major reason certain workloads must remain on premise, while ‘application compatibility’ was reported as a roadblock to cloud migration for 4 in 10 companies.

Industry regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA and CMMC among others were also cited as an obstacle for cloud adoption by 29% of respondents.

Multiple challenges blocking cloud adoption

Companies say they are holding back from full cloud migration due to a lack of ‘technical knowhow or certified staff’ (48%), difficulties with ‘application of best practices within the company’ (33%), issues with connectivity (33%), and ‘secured access’ (29%).

The most common workload preventing IT departments from lifting all services to the cloud was  ‘Print & Imaging Services’ (55%). Databases, file storage and application services are also cited as reasons for remaining partially on premise with 50%, 45%, and 43% of respondents indicating such respectively.

Hornetsecurity’s survey reveals that hybrid cloud solutions still bring with them several challenges. Chief among them is ‘monitoring and security’, with half of respondents expressing concerns in this area. ‘Networking and connectivity’ is another concern shared by nearly half of all respondents (48%). Finally, ‘training and certification’, ‘manageability and tooling’, and ‘resiliency and data recovery’ also factor into the concerns shared by 35%, 35%, and 33% of respondents respectively.

Companies using MSP services more likely to use cloud solutions vs on premise

47% of respondents who form part of internal IT teams reported that they see their workloads ‘mostly in the cloud’ in 5 years, versus 52% of respondents whose company uses MSP services, and 54% of respondents that work at MSPs. Internal IT departments report a lack of trust in cloud services at almost the same rate as those using MSP services, with 34% and 33% respectively.

For more details about the findings, here are the full results of the hybrid cloud survey.

Next steps for IT Pros

These findings will directly influence the educational webinar on 23 March, How Azure Stack HCI is Forcing Changes in your Datacenter. Microsoft MVPs Andy Syrewicze and Carsten Rachfahl will break down Microsoft’s core hybrid cloud solution Azure Stack HCI, what it means for IT Pros and how it will fit into their tech stack long-term. Register for this hybrid cloud webinar.

About Hornetsecurity Group

Hornetsecurity is the leading security and backup solution provider for Microsoft 365. Its flagship product is the most extensive cloud security solution for Microsoft 365 on the market, providing robust, comprehensive, award-winning protection: Spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption, advanced threat protection, email continuity, signatures and disclaimers. It’s an all-in-one security package that even includes backup and recovery for all data in Microsoft 365 and users’ endpoints.

Hornetsecurity Inc. is based in Pittsburgh, PA with other North America offices in Washington D.C. and Montreal, Canada. Globally, Hornetsecurity operates in more than 30 countries through its international distribution network. Its premium services are used by approximately 50,000 customers including Swisscom, Telefónica, KONICA MINOLTA, LVM Versicherung, DEKRA and CLAAS.

Media enquiries

Please contact us on press@hornetsecurity.com.

PITTSBURGH, PA (January 18, 2022) – Cybercrime remains one of the biggest threats worldwide, according to a new report from email cloud security and backup provider Hornetsecurity. The Cyber Threat Report Edition 2021/2022 details the latest insights and data on the current threat situation with a focus on email communication. The report examines the development of spam and advanced threats, shows which industries are most under threat, and identifies the most frequently used cyberattack methods. It also reviews the most crucial cybercrime-related events of the past year.

Hornetsecurity‘s Cyber Threat Report is now available for free download here.

40% of all incoming emails pose a potential threat

As the primary means of communication for business, email is one of the main gateways for cybercrime and remains a prime attack vector. Threat researchers at the Hornetsecurity Security Lab found that 40% of all inbound emails out of the total email traffic during the research period posed a potential threat. This includes spam, phishing emails, and advanced threats such as CEO fraud and any type of malware.

Phishing, malicious links, and ransomware are among the most popular attack tactics used by hackers. “Brand impersonation” is especially popular. For this, cybercriminals copy a company‘s corporate design and mimic the sender address in such a way that it can hardly be distinguished from the original, genuine email address. The main aim is to obtain the user’s access data or to spread malware via hidden links. At 16.5%, Deutsche Post and DHL are among the top five most frequently imitated brands.

Ransom leaks: trend takes on greater dimensions

Still in its early days just about two years ago, ransom leaks are now widely known. These attacks are an extension of ransomware campaigns: In ransom leak attacks, sensitive data is first copied and then encrypted. If the targeted victim refuses to pay ransom for decryption, the cybercriminals threaten to publish the copied data on their so-called leak websites.

Around 140 files have been published on REvil’s ransomware leak website so far, with new ones being added almost daily. Despite this large volume, the hacker group is only in 5th place among the leak websites with the most published data from ransomware victims.

In addition to these and other insights about the current state of global cybercrime, the Cyber Threat Report Edition 2021/2022 also provides an outlook on further possible developments.

Get your free copy of the Cyber Threat Report today, and access all data, figures, and visuals!

About Hornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity is the leading security and backup solution provider for Microsoft 365. Its flagship product is the most extensive cloud security solution for Microsoft 365 on the market, providing robust, comprehensive, award-winning protection: Spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption, advanced threat protection, email continuity, signatures and disclaimers. It’s an all-in-one security package that even includes backup and recovery for all data in Microsoft 365 and users’ endpoints.

Hornetsecurity Inc. is based in Pittsburgh, PA with North America offices in Washington D.C. and Montreal, Canada. Globally, Hornetsecurity operates in more than 30 countries through its international distribution network. Its premium services are used by approximately 50,000 customers including Swisscom, Telefónica, KONICA MINOLTA, LVM Versicherung, DEKRA and Claas. www.hornetsecurity.com

Established market researcher recognizes Hornetsecurity’s strategic vision

Las Vegas, NV, December 9, 2021  – While exhibiting at the Microsoft 365 Collaboration Conference this week, Hornetsecurity announced that it has been named a Trail Blazer in Radicati’s Secure Email Gateway – Market Quadrant 2021, a report issued to illustrate how individual vendors fit within this technology market.

Issued annually by the technology market research firm Radicati, the Secure Email Gateway – Market Quadrant focuses on any software, appliance, or cloud-based service deployed at the mail server or SMTP gateway level to filter out spam, viruses, phishing and spearphishing attacks, and other malware from messaging traffic.

Hornetsecurity’s suite of cloud-based email security and compliance products, such as the 365 Total Protection range, fits the bill as it delivers a comprehensive set of robust features and capabilities to set customers’ minds at rest.

Disrupting the market through innovation

Radicati defines a Trail Blazer such as Hornetsecurity as having the potential to ‘disrupt’ the market with new technology or new delivery models while offering advanced, best of breed technology in their solutions. Additionally, Radicati views vendors in this category as being most likely to become a Top Player, the highest ranking in this yearly analysis, with the addition of some features and functionality.

The Secure Email Gateway – Market Quadrant 2021 is available as a free download at this link.

About Radicati Group

The Radicati Group provides quantitative and qualitative research on email, security, instant messaging, social networking, information archiving, regulatory compliance, wireless technologies, unified communications, and more. It delivers detailed worldwide market size, installed base and forecast information, as well as detailed country breakouts for all technology areas it covers. The Radicati Group works with investment firms on a worldwide basis to identify and evaluate new investment opportunities.

About Hornetsecurity Group

Hornetsecurity is a leading global email cloud security and backup provider, which secures companies and organizations of all sizes across the world. Its award-winning product portfolio covers all important areas of email security, including spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption — as well as email, endpoint and virtual machine backup, replication, and recovery. Its flagship product is the most extensive cloud security solution for Microsoft 365 on the market.  With more than 350 employees in 10 regional offices, Hornetsecurity is headquartered in Hanover, Germany and operates through its international network of 5,000+ channel partners and MSPs and its 11 redundant, secured data centers. Its premium services are used by 50,000+ customers including Swisscom, Telefónica, KONICA MINOLTA, LVM Versicherung, DEKRA and CLAAS.

For more information
Please contact marketing@hornetsecurity.com.