The cybersecurity hub of Boston has attracted another startup to its ranks.
Cyber risk ratings startup NormShield has rebranded as Black Kite and moved its headquarters from Vienna, Virginia — just outside Washington, D.C. — to The Yard, a coworking space at 120 St. James Ave. in the Back Bay. The company has operated mostly remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic, but maintains a temporary private office on Newbury Street where up to six employees can work at a time.
Founded in 2016, Black Kite sells software to companies that want to assess the cybersecurity risk levels of their contractors and vendors. For each third party, Black Kite's software monitors more than 400 data points, including whether a company has credentials on the Dark Web, whether their servers are misconfigured and whether any of their web applications are vulnerable, said CEO Paul Paget.
"If you have access to data and a network, hackers have figured out that's a much easier way to get into your company," Paget said. "This is now No. 1 or 2 on a lot of people's lists. Covid made that more pronounced, because people couldn't get supplies. Supply chains became even more important, and hackers realized, 'Oh, I can disrupt your supply chain, and that's another way to get money from you.' You can do as much damage as you could with ransomware."
Black Kite serves about 160 customers across the financial services, health care and retail spaces, including big names like IBM and Freddie Mac. The startup says it has grown its customer base by 400 percent over the last two years.
Over the last year, Black Kite has more than doubled its employee headcount, which now stands at 15 people in Boston. Paget plans to hire another 14 by the end of the year, tapping into Boston's network of cybersecurity talent — which, he adds, was a major reason for Black Kite's relocation from Washington.
"Boston has a strong cybersecurity community across all disciplines — sales, marketing, engineering, technical talent," Paget said. "That's very important. Cyber's not something you can fall into easily. It's a very elusive, diverse type of discipline. This is a great area for that. It's where my network is. It's not just employees; it's contractors, it's investors, it's a whole community."
