SecurityAdvisor

SecurityAdvisor operated as a specialized security awareness platform, established in 2018 by co-founders Sai Venkataraman, Santhosh Purathepparambil, and Rohan Puri. The company was situated in the cybersecurity market, focusing on mitigating human-activated risks for its enterprise clients. Its business model was centered on a subscription-based service, priced per employee, with revenue typically sourced from a client's CISO or Security Operations Center (SOC) budget.

The company's core offering was a patented platform engineered to integrate with a client's existing security infrastructure, including products from vendors like CrowdStrike, Zscaler, and Palo Alto Networks. This integration allowed for the analysis of real-time user behavior to identify security risks. When a risky action was detected—such as an employee plugging in an unauthorized USB drive or visiting an insecure website—the platform would deliver immediate, contextual micro-learning modules. These short, targeted coaching sessions were pushed to employees through common enterprise applications like Slack and Microsoft Teams, educating them at the moment of the infraction. This approach moved beyond standard compliance-based training to a model of continuous education, aiming to foster genuine behavioral change and a stronger security culture.

Founder Sai Venkataraman brought significant experience from leadership roles at Intel Security, Fortscale, and Bain & Company to SecurityAdvisor. His background in corporate strategy and product management within the cybersecurity sector directly informed the company's direction. The firm secured $7.3 million in a Series A funding round in February 2021, led by ClearSky Security with participation from Crosslink Capital, SixThirty Ventures, and Cyber Mentor Fund. This capital was intended to fuel product development and increase market awareness. In October 2021, SecurityAdvisor was acquired by KnowBe4 for approximately $80 million. The acquisition led to the creation of a new category termed Human Detection and Response (HDR), combining SecurityAdvisor's real-time behavioral analysis with KnowBe4's broader security awareness training platform.

Keywords: security awareness, human detection and response, real-time coaching, micro-learning, cybersecurity training, employee behavior analysis, security incident reduction, phishing prevention, insider threat, SOC enhancement, security ROI, cyber risk quantification, contextual security, automated security training, employee education, enterprise security, behavioral change, data protection, KnowBe4, human firewall