By Kevin Mandia February 2025I’ve known Derek and his team for years. I watched them build the first data-leak prevention platform in the industry at Oakley, which Raytheon later acquired and turned into Forcepoint & Everfox. The software breakthroughs they developed were ahead of their time, and the engineers they brought onto the team were some of the best in the industry. Their products were rock-solid stable, fully scalable, and delivered real and immediate value to CISOs.So when they launched their next venture, Shape Security, with the mission of protecting the world from rogue bots, I knew it was going to be good. I joined their board, and once again, their technology delivered. Their software does what they say it will—every time. It saved my Fortune 500 and U.S. government customers millions in fraud losses from automated bot attacks.When I heard their sights were set on ransomware, I was intrigued.At Mandiant, we responded to many ransomware attacks over the years. Many people conclude if a ransomware attacker was successful, then a company’s security was “below the line”. However, I believe we have witnessed the “professionalization of ransomware” actors. The attacks are tailored, focused, multi-faceted, and aggressive. When dealing with ransomware attacks, CISOs need a hyper-accurate, automated defense that works faster than the attackers can—and that’s what Mimic is delivering.When Derek called me and said they had a real technical solution to stop this kind of cyber extortion, I didn’t hesitate. I was in with both feet. I have seen what Derek and his organizations have built for security practitioners throughout his career. And once again, I’m blown away by what they’ve built. Being able to deflect attacks in milliseconds is a game changer.I am also excited to be working with Greg Davison at Mimic, who was one of my best sales leaders at Mandiant. I remember when Greg told me he was interested in Mimic – and I remember telling him what they’re building is going to completely change ransomware preparedness and response.