Damballa is a computer security

Computer security

Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...

 company focused on advanced cyber threats

Threat (computer)

In Computer security a threat is a possible danger that might exploit a vulnerability to breach security and thus cause possible harm.A threat can be either "intentional" or "accidental" In Computer security a threat is a possible danger that might exploit a vulnerability to breach security and...

 such as modern malware, advanced persistent threats and botnets. Damballa was founded in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 by Merrick Furst, an associate dean in the Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...

  (Georgia Tech) College of Computing

Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing

The College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology has roots stretching back to an Information Science degree established in 1964. In 1988, Georgia Tech president John Patrick Crecine elevated the School of Information and Computer Science to become the College of Computing, making...

; he was joined by two Georgia Tech colleagues, Wenke Lee, and David Dagon. It is named after Damballa

Damballa

In Vodou, Damballah is one of the most important of all the loa . Damballah is the Sky God and considered the primordial creator of all life. The veve of Damballah comprises two serpents prominent among other emblems.-Family:...

, a Vodou snake god that protects against zombies, with the implication that Damballa protects against “zombie” computers operating as part of botnets. Two venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

 firms, Sigma Partners and Nora Mosely Partners, and angel investors Imlay Investments, provided it with a combined US$2.5 million in Series A (initial) funding. Furst chose Steve Linowes as CEO soon after founding, with assistance from Imlay Investments. According to its site, Damballa now seeks primarily ISP

Internet service provider

An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

 and corporate clients. They also have had at least one federal agency as a customer. Damballa says they have government customers because of infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

 security concerns.. In August 2007, Damballa secured $US 6 million in Series B funding .

Damballa’s current product offerings rely on the Failsafe appliance, which its marketing materials describe as real-time identification and remediation for zero-day targeted attack

Attack (computer)

In computer and computer networks an attack is any attempt to destroy, expose, alter, disable, steal or gain unauthorized access to or make unauthorized use of an asset.- IETF :Internet Engineering Task Force defines attack in RFC 2828 as:...

 activity that takes place inside enterprise networks. Damballa claims that Failsafe gains a performance advantage because it does not rely on signatures to identify malware. Instead, it applies a range of analysis technologies to automatically identify communications between command-and-control servers and compromised systems, which simplifies and speeds the identification, isolation and remediation of advanced malware infections. These assertions have been borne out by at least one public case study created by a prominent industry analyst.

See also

• Attack (computer)
  Attack (computer)
  In computer and computer networks an attack is any attempt to destroy, expose, alter, disable, steal or gain unauthorized access to or make unauthorized use of an asset.- IETF :Internet Engineering Task Force defines attack in RFC 2828 as:...
  
  
• Asset (computing)
• Computer security
  Computer security
  Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
  
  
• Countermeasure (computer)
  Countermeasure (computer)
  In Computer Security a countermeasure is an action, device, procedure, or technique that reduces a threat, a vulnerability, or an attack by eliminating or preventing it, by minimizing the harm it can cause, or by discovering and reporting it so that corrective action can be taken.The definition is...
  
  
• IT risk
  IT risk
  Information technology risk, or IT risk, IT-related risk, is a risk related to information technology. This relatively new term due to an increasing awareness that information security is simply one facet of a multitude of risks that are relevant to IT and the real world processes it...
  
  
• Threat (computer)
  Threat (computer)
  In Computer security a threat is a possible danger that might exploit a vulnerability to breach security and thus cause possible harm.A threat can be either "intentional" or "accidental" In Computer security a threat is a possible danger that might exploit a vulnerability to breach security and...
  
  
• Vulnerability (computing)
  Vulnerability (computing)
  In computer security, a vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance.Vulnerability is the intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw...