Darktrace plc
TypePublic
Founded2013 (2013)[1]
HeadquartersCambridge, England
Key people
Gordon Hurst (Chairman)
Poppy Gustafsson (CEO)
ServicesCybersecurity
RevenueIncrease US$415.5 million (2022)[2]
Increase US$7.6 million (2022)[2]
Increase US$1.5 million (2022)[2]
Total assetsIncrease US$729.4 million (2022)[2]
Total equityIncrease US$314.7 million (2022)[2]
Number of employees
2,000+ (2022)[2]
Websitewww.darktrace.com

Darktrace is a British[3] cyber security company, established in 2013 and headquartered in Cambridge, England.[3] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

Darktrace was founded in 2013 in Cambridge, where the Darktrace AI Research Centre is based, with the company's second R&D centre located in The Hague, Netherlands.[4] It was founded by mathematicians and cyber defense experts and Invoke Capital, a company owned by Mike Lynch.[5][6] Lynch was co-founder of Autonomy, sold to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 in a transaction leading to accusations of fraud and to a legal fight over extraditing him to the United States.[7] In its stock market listing registration documents Darktrace rated the potential liability relating to the fallout of the action against Lynch as "low risk".[8]

Many of Darktrace's management personnel, including chief executive Poppy Gustafsson, chief technology officer Jack Stockdale, and chief strategy and artificial intelligence officer Nicole Eagan, were recruited from Autonomy.[5]

In April 2021, Darktrace listed on the London Stock Exchange with a market value of circa £2.5 billion.[9][10] The market value reached a peak of £7 billion within months, with a share value peak of £10, but later fluctuated. On 6 March 2022, Darktrace opened with a share value of £6.46, with a market cap of £3.43 billion.[11]

There has been criticism about the company's technology and its founding investor by short-seller Matthew Earl, head of the Shadowfall fund, and analysts Peel Hunt. In January 2022, Earl questioned Darktrace's model and culture, warning clients that the company's model was "watery-thin", based more on sales style than business substance.[8]

In March 2022, Darktrace acquired Cybersprint, a Dutch attack surface management company, for €47.5 million.[12]

Short seller attack

On 31 January 2023, Quintessential Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund and short seller, published a detailed report alleged potential accounting errors at Darktrace, making claims about potential irregularities in contracts with resellers and customers, predominantly dating from before Darktrace’s public listing in 2021.[13] Darktrace has disputed this.[14] Quintessential pointed towards connections between Darktrace and HP Autonomy, the UK software company with which Darktrace shares many ties. Autonomy was accused of irregular accounting practices relating to its $11.7bn sale to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.[15]

The company’s share price fell 12 per cent when Quintessential first disclosed its short position on 30 January 2023. The shares then fell a further 8 per cent the following day, after the report was published, down to 200p.[16]

On 18 July 2023, EY concluded its review into the company’s contracts and internal financial processes. EY found a “small number of errors and inconsistencies” with some of the contracts but nothing that would be “material” to Darktrace's financial statements.[17]

Products

Darktrace's product uses unsupervised (in particular) machine learning techniques to build an intrinsic "pattern of life" for every network, device, and user within an organisation. From this evolving understanding of 'normal', it can then detect potential threats as they emerge in real time.[18] It employs an autonomous response technology, Antigena, to take action against in-progress cyber-attacks.[19] The product also visualises network activity on a user interface, called the 'Threat Visualiser'.[20] Since the company's inception in 2013, its technology has been deployed some 9,000 times.[21] Currently, Darktrace can cover Industrial Operational Technology, Email, SaaS, Cloud, Network, and Endpoint.[22]

Darktrace has claimed that it has the capability to defend against zero-day attacks, for example some log4j attacks.[23]

Awards

Darktrace was included in Fast Company's 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2018,[24] The Cyber Award's AI Product of the Year in 2020,[25] Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential Companies in 2021[26] and Fast Company's top 10 most innovative AI companies for 2022.[27] In 2022, Darktrace won the AI & Machine Learning Award[28] at the 2022 Go:Tech Awards.[29]

Sponsorship

Darktrace signed a partnership deal with McLaren Racing in 2020.[30] In 2021, the deal was extended to include McLaren's IndyCar team.[31]

References

  1. ↑ "Darktrace Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Annual Report 2022" (PDF). Darktrace. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Company Overview". www.darktrace.com. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  4. ↑ "Company Overview". Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  5. 1 2 "After Autonomy". The Economist. 21 September 2013. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  6. ↑ "Darktrace, The Cyber Security Startup Backed By Mike Lynch, Raises Further $18M". TechCrunch. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  7. ↑ "Ex-Autonomy boss Mike Lynch charged with fraud in the US". BBC News. 30 November 2018.
  8. 1 2 Sweney, Mark (25 January 2022). "'Snake oil': doubts loom over tech firm Darktrace's high-octane sales strategy". The Guardian.
  9. ↑ Bradshaw, Tim (30 April 2021). "Darktrace shares jump 32% in IPO". The Financial Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "Darktrace: What we learned from building a £2.5bn UK success story". City A.M. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  11. ↑ "Darktrace PLC (DRKTF) Stock Price & News - Google Finance". www.google.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  12. ↑ Osborne, Charlie (24 February 2022). "Darktrace acquires attack surface analytics firm Cybersprint". ZDNet.
  13. ↑ Patel, Anviksha (31 January 2023). "Darktrace stock falls after New York short seller takes stake". MarketWatch. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  14. ↑ Maatouk, Michele (31 January 2023). "Darktrace hits back after short seller takes stake". Sharecast. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  15. ↑ "Darktrace down 5% as New York hedge fund launches fresh bear raid". Shares Magazine. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  16. ↑ "Darktrace shares dive after short seller attack". Financial Times. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  17. ↑ "Darktrace shares pop 26% after EY concludes report into accounting allegations". CNBC. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  18. ↑ Greene, Tim (9 March 2017). “Darktrace finds more attacks, cuts response time, saves money for Blackhawk Network.” Network World. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  19. ↑ Kobie, Nicole (4 April 2017). “Darktrace’s AI is now automatically responding to hacks – and stopping them.” WIRED. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  20. ↑ Hamblen, Matt. (5 Dec 2016). “Behavior analytics tools for cybersecurity move into enterprises.” Computerworld. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Losses widen at security start-up Darktrace as it embarks on hiring spree". The Telegraph. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  22. ↑ "Enterprise Immune System". www.darktrace.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  23. ↑ "Darktrace AI Stops Cyberattack Exploiting Log4j Vulnerability at Global Financial Services Provider". Dark Reading. 22 March 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  24. ↑ "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2018". Fast Company. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  25. ↑ "2020 Finalists". The National Cyber Awards. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  26. ↑ "TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2021: Darktrace". Time. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  27. ↑ Sullivan, Harry McCracken and Mark (8 March 2022). "The 10 most innovative companies in artificial intelligence of 2022". Fast Company. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  28. ↑ Cook, James (20 May 2022). "Winners announced at the 2022 Go:Tech Awards - Business Leader News". Business Leader. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  29. ↑ Darktrace. "DARKTRACE WINS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AWARD AT 2022 GO:TECH AWARDS". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  30. ↑ "Darktrace signs to McLaren for 2020 F1 season". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  31. ↑ "McLaren Racing - McLaren Racing announces extended and enhanced partnership with Darktrace". www.mclaren.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
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