SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KSOC, an event-driven SaaS platform built to automatically remediate Kubernetes security risks and enforce least privilege access control across distributed cluster infrastructures, today announced it has raised $6 million in seed funding. Led by .406 Ventures with participation from Vertex Ventures US and Gula Tech Adventures, this infusion of capital will enable KSOC to accelerate product development and grow its sales and marketing efforts. Notably, the following individuals have contributed to KSOC’s growth through angel investments and mentorship: Andrew Peterson, Founder, Signal Sciences; Carol Meyers, Former CMO, Rapid7; Jim Manico, Founder, Manicode, and Grant Miller, Founder, Replicated.

“Without the proper security controls, including least-privilege access and hardened cluster configurations, attackers can wreak havoc in an enterprise's cloud environment. KSOC addresses these challenges head on by allowing development and security teams to meet at the source – the code itself.”

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As enterprises expand their cloud-native architectures, it becomes monumentally complex to manage and secure containerized infrastructure. Businesses adopt Kubernetes expecting it will support developers in managing microservices architectures, including the human and machine identities they are tasked with owning. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation estimates that 5.6 million developers worldwide use Kubernetes¹.

Kubernetes is transformational and enables rapid development. However, the rise of Kubernetes has increased the enterprise attack surface and made security the top concern for organizations moving towards containers in production, as well as the most in-demand skill today². Jimmy Mesta, Co-founder and CTO, realized early that at times Kubernetes could be more of a hindrance than a help as many developers lack the security depth and expertise to adequately secure their workloads. Informed by his work training Kubernetes early adopters, Mesta identified the best practices for Kubernetes security that still enabled companies to achieve fast, agile development without putting the enterprise environment or business bottom line at risk.

KSOC gives development, security and operations teams the ability to automatically discover clusters, remediate misconfigurations, and securely manage access entitlements across any Kubernetes infrastructure. Led by Brooke Motta, a recognized high-growth, go-to-market leader, and Mesta, a pioneer in Kubernetes security, KSOC is poised to be the security partner of choice for enterprises looking to adopt, scale, and secure Kubernetes across their business without impacting development velocity.

“KSOC empowers our development teams to own the security outcomes of our applications and infrastructure with minimal operational overhead. KSOC's platform is a perfect fit for our existing DevOps workflows,” Kim Green, CISO at World Market and KSOC customer.

“Kubernetes adoption is undergoing exponential growth and security is quickly becoming a primary concern as teams look to scale. I'm excited to bring the KSOC platform to market and deliver a modern approach to Kubernetes Detection and Response (KDR) as well as Kubernetes Infrastructure Entitlements Management (KIEM),” said Brooke Motta, Co-founder and CEO.

“KSOC is defining a market space within Kubernetes security that is primed to explode in the coming years,'' said Greg Dracon, Partner, .406 Ventures. “We are thrilled to partner with Brooke and Jimmy and believe KSOC will change the way enterprises secure their cloud-native infrastructure.”

Dracon will join the KSOC board of directors, bringing with him over 25 years of cybersecurity-focused venture investing and technology operating.

“KSOC stood out for many reasons–not the least of which is because their solution exemplifies security by design, which is one of the key tenets we believe in at Gula Tech Adventures. Fast remediation allows developers to spot and fix misconfigurations and vulnerabilities and is critical when working to keep pace with the speed of innovation,” said Ron Gula, President, Gula Tech Adventures.

"In this noisy and rapidly-growing Kubernetes environment, KSOC’s cloud-native solution puts security on auto-pilot so developers can focus on application building,” said Chase Roberts, Principal at Vertex Ventures US. “We’re confident that KSOC, with its strong leadership and sorely-needed technology, will produce a category-defining company that’s indispensable for security and software teams alike. We couldn’t be more excited to join them on this journey."

Roberts will join KSOC as a board observer and will partner closely with the team to help them realize their mission.

“Businesses cannot move applications to Kubernetes and expect to transform into a DevOps shop,” said Zane Lackey, Co-Founder of Signal Sciences and KSOC angel investor. “Without the proper security controls, including least-privilege access and hardened cluster configurations, attackers can wreak havoc in an enterprise's cloud environment. KSOC addresses these challenges head on by allowing development and security teams to meet at the source – the code itself.”

“We are thrilled to have KSOC join and support the CNCF and Security TAG,” said Chris Aniszcyk, CTO of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. “The cloud native community requires the work of dedicated individuals and organizations to continue pushing the boundaries of scalability and security, and we are glad to count KSOC in these ranks.”

KSOC will be hosting a webinar on March 1 at 10:00 a.m. PST to discuss the fundamentals of securing a modern Kubernetes environment. Attendees will learn how KSOC enables security teams to discover and remediate Kubernetes misconfigurations and vulnerabilities across any cloud. Register today.

About KSOC

KSOC (Kubernetes Security Operations Center) reduces an organization's attack surface through Kubernetes Detection and Response (KDR) as well as Kubernetes Infrastructure Entitlements Management (KIEM). KSOC is the security partner of choice for enterprises looking to adopt and scale Kubernetes across their business without impacting development velocity. The event-driven, SaaS platform offers rapid remediation of misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, allowing developers and security teams to secure their workloads at code-level. To learn more: https://www.ksoc.com/.

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¹Cloud Native Computing Foundation, The State of Cloud Native Development, 2021

²Pure Storage, Kubernetes Adoption Survey, 2021