Promisec, corporate security specialist, raises $2.4 million

Doveryay, no proveryay… “Trust, but verify”: This is one of Vladimir Ilich Lenin’s famous lines which Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev liked to quote. Then, in 1987, Ronald Reagan used the same line to explain the U.S. approach to Soviet compliance with the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) arms control treaty. This is also the approach Rishon Le Zion, Israel-based Promisec advocates. As we reported a few weeks ago, organizations typically face greater threats from the inside — disgruntled employees, malicious pranksters — than from the outside. People on the outside must invest some effort to penetrate the company’s network, but employees already have the necessary passwords. Moreover, while IT managers may do a very good job securing the organization’s digital front door, employees would often know how to enter the system through the back door.

Promisec’s solutions aim to solve this insider threat problem, which is not easy. It is not easy to find a balance between what the company correctly describes as the poles of trust and self-preservation. Corporate leaders want to foster a trusting and open atmosphere conducive to creativity and camaraderie — but without the attendant risks to security. They want to create a secure environment in which the company’s important assets are monitored — but without turning the corporate headquarters into another East Germany. The company says that its flagship product, Spectator, goes a long way toward achieving this goal by offering IT security administrators a real-time, clear picture of organization-wide threats and the tools to neutralize them — and do so discreetly.

Promisec has just raised $2.4 million from Boca Raton, Florida-based VC firm Old City Partners. OCP has been actively investing in Israeli companies and ideas. Tony Gelbart, OPC’s president and CEO, said: “New standards and federal regulations within the U.S. banking, financial, medical and educational fields represent a substantial commercial drive for successful marketing of Promisec’s unique products.”