Zscaler acquires Mumbai-based cybersecurity startup Smokescreen Technologies

The Zscaler-Smokescreen deal is a significant vote of confidence for India’s younger cybersecurity startup ecosystem, which has been build up capabilities over the previous few years.

Smokescreen Applied sciences was based in 2015 by Sahir Hidyatullah and Raviraj Doshi, who wore a number of hats, together with that of cybercrime investigators earlier than turning to entrepreneurship.

A press release from Zscaler mentioned that Smokescreen, which works on the rules of energetic defence and deception to thwart assaults, might be built-in into the Zscaler Zero Belief Change. This is able to assist the corporate increase its capabilities in detecting “focused assaults, ransomware, and lateral motion makes an attempt. Moreover, Smokescreen will assist present wealthy menace intelligence and telemetry for the Zscaler group to proactively hunt for rising adversary ways and strategies.”

The deal, together with better-than-expected outcomes, meant Zscaler’s shares moved up 7% at shut of commerce within the US. Zscaler has a market cap of $17 billion.

The corporate’s merchandise are based mostly on the concept of deception. Their Phantasm Black deception platform creates decoys that mimic the true factor and lures attackers alongside blind alleys, all of the whereas turning the tables and extracting data on the attackers. These are primarily honeytraps to lure and catch black-hat hackers messing about in an organization’s servers.

Smokescreen has by no means raised exterior funding and is amongst a crop of Indian cybersecurity startups which have been on the forefront of making an entrepreneurial ecosystem round cybersecurity in India. ET Prime had earlier detailed the rise of those startups in India and the challenges they’re going through.

The success of cybersecurity startups like Smokescreen is a reminder that India can and should aspire to how international locations like Israel have nurtured cybersecurity startups in that nation. Exports of cybersecurity merchandise from that nation hit an enormous $6.85 billion in 2020, up from $3.5 billion simply three years in the past.

India has the numbers by way of cybersecurity expertise, however that wants additional nurturing, regulatory backing, and energetic help from the authorities to create extra profitable startups and to emulate the success of ecosystems like Israel.