EMERGING TECHNOLOGY,CYBERSECURITY
Inmarsat | September 17, 2022
Viasat Inc., (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, and Inmarsat, a leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, today announced the receipt of approval of the proposed combination of their businesses by the UK Government under the National Security & Investment Act.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced that the transaction does not pose a risk to the UK's national security.
In March 2022, the companies committed to economic undertakings with BEIS, which underlined their pledge to strengthen and advance the UK's National Space Strategy. The economic undertakings include an expansion in the number of highly skilled jobs in key areas and a 30% increase in overall research and development spending in the UK.
"The combination of Viasat and Inmarsat creates a leading global communications innovator with enhanced scale and scope to affordably, securely and reliably connect the world. The UK Government's clearance of Viasat's proposed acquisition of Inmarsat under the National Security and Investment Act is another important step forward on the road to closing the deal, and we would like to thank the UK Government for their close collaboration throughout the process. Viasat has been a trusted partner of the UK's defence and national security communities for more than a decade, including in the provision of its market-leading encryption products. The combined company, whose global international business headquarters will be situated in the UK, will build upon the strong UK relationships that Viasat and Inmarsat already enjoy and allow us to deepen our contribution to the UK's National Space Strategy."
-Mark Dankberg, Executive Chairman and CEO of Viasat.
Rajeev Suri, Inmarsat CEO, added: Inmarsat is proud of our decades of close work with the UK government. Today's approval brings us closer to delivering the new jobs and investment to the UK that have been committed by both Inmarsat and Viasat. Together, we will be well-positioned to compete in a robust market that has both well-funded new entrants and other industry players in the process of consolidating.
About Viasat:
Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For over 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people's lives anywhere they are—on the ground, in the air or at sea.
About Inmarsat:
Inmarsat delivers world leading, innovative, advanced and exceptionally reliable global, mobile communications across the world – in the air, at sea and on land - that are enabling a new generation of commercial, government and mission-critical services. Inmarsat is powering the digitalisation of the maritime industry, making operations more efficient and safer than ever before. It is driving a new era of inflight passenger services for aviation, while ensuring that aircraft can fly with maximum efficiency and safety. Furthermore, Inmarsat is enabling the rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and enabling the next wave of world-changing technologies that will underpin the connected society and help build a sustainable future. And now Inmarsat is developing the first-of-its-kind, multi-dimensional communications network of the future, ORCHESTRA. In November 2021, Inmarsat and Viasat announced the planned combination of the two companies, to create a new leader in global communications. The deal is scheduled to close in the second half of 2022.
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CYBERSECURITY
SecurityScorecard | July 19, 2022
In its ongoing effort to improve the security posture of federal, state and local government agencies, SecurityScorecard, the global leader in cybersecurity ratings, today announced a partnership with The National Association of Counties (NACo). Through this partnership, U.S. county governments will gain access to SecurityScorecard’s cybersecurity ratings platform to monitor and improve cybersecurity risk.
NACo successfully piloted SecurityScorecard’s cybersecurity ratings platform, which involved 38 counties. SecurityScorecard’s platform is now available in the NACo County Tech Xchange, an online portal that connects more than 800 county CIOs, IT directors, CISOs and other county IT leadership. The portal provides resources that enable counties to improve their technology infrastructure.
“We are committed to helping government entities in keeping their communities secure,” said Sachin Bansal, Chief Business and Legal Officer, SecurityScorecard.
SecurityScorecard collects and analyzes global threat signals that give organizations instant visibility into the security posture of vendors and business partners as well as the capability to do a self-assessment of their own security posture. The technology continuously monitors 10 groups of risk factors to instantly deliver an easy-to-understand A-F rating.
“Working with SecurityScorecard will enable us to improve the overall health of county networks and provide immediate access to information about cyber threats and risks, not only for county networks but also for third-party partners,” said Rita Reynolds, CIO of NACo. “This expansive approach offers sophisticated, real-time data that enhances counties’ capacity to monitor and protect critical assets.”
In recent months, SecurityScorecard has established partnerships with the New York Department of Financial Services and U.S. state banking regulators via the Conference of State Banking Supervisors. In addition, SecurityScorecard has significantly increased its work with multiple congressional committees, federal and state agencies, and local authorities and meets regularly with government agencies for policy and operational collaboration, including threat intelligence briefings for major government agencies. SecurityScorecard is a founding member of the Institute for Security & Technology and the only security ratings provider to participate in the Institute’s cross-industry Ransomware Task Force.
SecurityScorecard will participate in the NACo 2022 Annual Conference being held July 21 – 24. This is the largest meeting of county officials who will collaborate on NACo’s federal policy agenda, share proven practices and strengthen knowledge to help improve residents’ lives and the efficiency of county government.
For more information on the SecurityScorecard cybersecurity ratings platform or to request a demo, please visit www.securityscorecard.com.
About SecurityScorecard
Funded by world-class investors including Evolution Equity Partners, Silver Lake Waterman, Sequoia Capital, GV, Riverwood Capital, and others, SecurityScorecard is the global leader in cybersecurity ratings with more than 12 million companies continuously rated. Founded in 2013 by security and risk experts Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy and Sam Kassoumeh, SecurityScorecard's patented rating technology is used by over 30,000 organizations for enterprise risk management, third-party risk management, board reporting, due diligence, cyber insurance underwriting, and regulatory oversight. SecurityScorecard is the first cybersecurity ratings company to offer digital forensics and incident response services, providing a 360-degree approach to security prevention and response for its worldwide customer and partner base. SecurityScorecard continues to make the world a safer place by transforming the way companies understand, improve and communicate cybersecurity risk to their boards, employees and vendors. Every organization has the universal right to their trusted and transparent Instant SecurityScorecard rating.NACo successfully piloted SecurityScorecard’s cybersecurity ratings platform, which involved 38 counties. SecurityScorecard’s platform is now available in the NACo County Tech Xchange, an online portal that connects more than 800 county CIOs, IT directors, CISOs and other county IT leadership. The portal provides resources that enable counties to improve their technology infrastructure.
“We are committed to helping government entities in keeping their communities secure.”
-Sachin Bansal, Chief Business and Legal Officer, SecurityScorecard.
SecurityScorecard collects and analyzes global threat signals that give organizations instant visibility into the security posture of vendors and business partners as well as the capability to do a self-assessment of their own security posture. The technology continuously monitors 10 groups of risk factors to instantly deliver an easy-to-understand A-F rating.
“Working with SecurityScorecard will enable us to improve the overall health of county networks and provide immediate access to information about cyber threats and risks, not only for county networks but also for third-party partners, This expansive approach offers sophisticated, real-time data that enhances counties’ capacity to monitor and protect critical assets.”
-Rita Reynolds, CIO of NACo.
In recent months, SecurityScorecard has established partnerships with the New York Department of Financial Services and U.S. state banking regulators via the Conference of State Banking Supervisors. In addition, SecurityScorecard has significantly increased its work with multiple congressional committees, federal and state agencies, and local authorities and meets regularly with government agencies for policy and operational collaboration, including threat intelligence briefings for major government agencies. SecurityScorecard is a founding member of the Institute for Security & Technology and the only security ratings provider to participate in the Institute’s cross-industry Ransomware Task Force.
SecurityScorecard will participate in the NACo 2022 Annual Conference being held July 21 – 24. This is the largest meeting of county officials who will collaborate on NACo’s federal policy agenda, share proven practices and strengthen knowledge to help improve residents’ lives and the efficiency of county government.
About SecurityScorecard-
Funded by world-class investors including Evolution Equity Partners, Silver Lake Waterman, Sequoia Capital, GV, Riverwood Capital, and others, SecurityScorecard is the global leader in cybersecurity ratings with more than 12 million companies continuously rated. Founded in 2013 by security and risk experts Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy and Sam Kassoumeh, SecurityScorecard's patented rating technology is used by over 30,000 organizations for enterprise risk management, third-party risk management, board reporting, due diligence, cyber insurance underwriting, and regulatory oversight. SecurityScorecard is the first cybersecurity ratings company to offer digital forensics and incident response services, providing a 360-degree approach to security prevention and response for its worldwide customer and partner base. SecurityScorecard continues to make the world a safer place by transforming the way companies understand, improve and communicate cybersecurity risk to their boards, employees and vendors. Every organization has the universal right to their trusted and transparent Instant SecurityScorecard rating.
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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY,CYBERSECURITY
Alation | September 27, 2022
Avaap, an industry-focused technology and management consulting firm, today announced its entering into a strategic partnership with Alation, the leader in enterprise data intelligence solutions. The partnership will address the needs of chief data officers and stakeholders at any level that use data to drive business decisions.
The addition of Alation to Avaap’s strong list of data and analytics partners, including Alteryx, Cloudera, MuleSoft, Snowflake, Tableau, and others, will provide customers with the best data governance and data cataloging capabilities to improve the experience for data users and deliver a scalable, integrated solution to support customers on their data governance journeys.
The Avaap-Alation partnership will catalyze next-generation data fabric and data mesh solutions for state and local governments, public and private sector healthcare organizations, as well as education institutions, nonprofits, and transportation agencies. The benefit is a modern data stack that provides a seamless data analytics solution, regardless of the platform, enabling a data-informed decision-making approach.
“The ability to generate data-driven insights from the volumes and variety of data within an organization is a key imperative in both the public and private sector, Our partnership with Alation will bring our customers new and innovative solutions to build their data culture through better data governance, data cataloging, and cloud transformation. We are excited to leverage the partnership to help organizations do more with their data.”
-Nehul Vyas, vice president, Data & Analytics, Avaap.
Added Scott Woestman, Alation vice president, Public Sector, We are excited to partner with Avaap and leverage their data and analytic experience to help our joint customers develop and integrate the best capabilities into their data and analytics portfolios. Through our connected ecosystem of technology partners, Alation and Avaap will help customers dramatically improve the effectiveness of data initiatives and maximize their analytic investments.
About Avaap:
Avaap is an industry-focused management and technology consulting firm specializing in Workday, Tableau, and other applications. We offer full life cycle consulting services from strategy and system selection through post-production support and ongoing adoption, including data and analytics and change management services. Government organizations, health systems, higher education institutions, and other organizations have partnered with Avaap for successful transformation.
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