Cybersecurity newcomer Hexis: We're not like FireEye

Start-up claims it is a very different beast from threat detection specialists as it launches into UK channel

Cybersecurity newcomer Hexis Cyber Solutions says it doesn't want to be lumped in with the likes of FireEye, Palo Alto, Carbon Black and Darktrace as it hunts for its first UK partners.

Hexis's Hawkeye G appliance is designed to not only detect but also mitigate and remove threats using machine automation, which it claims sets it apart from the raft of threat-detection vendors out there.

The outfit, part of global cybersecurity consultancy KEYW, will operate a 100 per cent channel model in the UK after recently launching an office here.

Vice president of EMEA Kane Hardy claimed FireEye does a "great job" in helping enterprises identify threats but can't then remove these threats in an automated way, even after its $1.05bn (£0.67bn) acquisition of Mandiant in January.

"We are speaking to [a potential customer] who had three consecutive hits," he said. "If you take a Mandiant-type approach you have to keep paying out to get those resources in. How much better is it to have a tool that is constantly mitigating those threats 24/7, day in, day out?"

A typical 1,000-node rollout of Hawkeye G may come in at about £100,000, but RoI will be achieved well within a year, Hardy claimed.

"The key is finding partners who understand how we distinguish ourselves from the threat-detection space," he said. "We may be recognised in that space, but it's very busy and full of noise, and we don't want to be part of it."

The decision by KEYW to develop Hexis into a commercial product was only taken last July and Hardy admitted the vendor is still in start-up mode and figuring out its sweet spot. It currently has only one UK customer in the form of Ethernet provider Exponential-e, which uses Hawkeye G in its managed service, although Hardy claimed the majority of pilot customers are converting.

The vendor is also developing an application programming interface that will let the likes of FireEye, Sourcefire, Check Point and Palo Alto feed information into its platform, which Hardy said would improve its ability to spot threats from Q1 next year. Indeed, Hawkeye G can even complement a FireEye installation, Hardy stressed, by allowing the customer to choose what proportion of response activity to automate and what to reserve for human intervention.

A number of threat detection start-ups have popped up in recent months, including Cambridge-based Darktrace, which is backed by Autonomy founder Mike Lynch, and Resolution1 Security, a spinout from AccessData.

But Tim Ayling, director of UK and northern Europe at Hexis, claimed his firm offers a different approach.

"We've done the rounds and we've found no one who's doing automated removal," he said.

Ollie Hart, general manager of networking and security at SCC, confirmed he is in the process of signing a reseller agreement with Hexis.

"Hexis have a different approach around advanced malware protection and remediation," he said. "I believe they are addressing one of the main issues which organisations face in this space by ensuring the solutions include automated or policy-based removal of malware, along with other tools to help with insider threats and policy violation."