STERLING, Va., Jan 24, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Fixmo Inc., the mobile risk management (MRM) company, today announced its new Board of Advisors. Charter members include Mr. Bob Gourley, CTO at Crucial Point LLC; Mr. Wilson “Bill” Livingood, a 33-year veteran of the United States Secret Service and Sergeant at Arms (Ret.) of the United States House of Representatives for the 104th Congress; and Rear Admiral Arthur Lawrence, Assistant Surgeon General (Ret.) who last served in his over 37 year career as Director, Office of Security and Strategic Information, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Operations.

MRM brings together Mobile Security, Mobile Device Management, Corporate Data Protection, Mobile Integrity Management and Compliance Assurance into a single holistic solution to help customers stay protected and compliant while adopting new mobile technologies and embracing the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend.

“Mr. Gourley has a deep knowledge of the enterprise IT market segment through his R&D and concept development experience as a researcher at CTO Labs and editor at CTOvision.com. Admiral Lawrence has incredible experience promoting and protecting the medical and health security of the Nation as part of the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service. Mr. Livingood’s experience with the House of Representatives, its members and Capitol Hill is uniquely impressive. These three luminaries come together from unique backgrounds to form the ideal team for our Board of Advisors to help us grow our business across Government and Enterprise markets around the world in 2012,” said Rick Segal, Founder and CEO of Fixmo.

In addition, last month the company appointed Lieutenant General Kenneth Minihan (USAF-Ret.)–a former director of the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Mr. Frank Meehan–founder of INQ Mobile and former board member of Spotify and SIRI–to its Board of Directors while announcing the completion of a $23M Series C investment funding round.

Minihan and Meehan joined existing board members Rick Segal (CEO, Fixmo), Paul Conley (Principal, Paladin Capital Group), Chris Albinson (Managing Director, Panorama Capital), Jeffrey Grammer (Partner, Rho Canada), John Stewart (VP and CSO, Cisco) and William Crowell (former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency).

“Expanding our board to include such esteemed executives in the security, government and mobility sectors will further diversify the talents of our board and its capabilities in 2012 and beyond,” added Segal. “Fixmo’s customers, employees and its stakeholders at large will benefit from the new ideas and fresh energy they will bring to Fixmo’s growing business and the expansion of the MRM category.”

About Fixmo

Fixmo Inc. is the Mobile Risk Management (MRM) company that enables government agencies, enterprises and end-users to identify, mitigate and manage the risks associated with mobile devices. Fixmo helps organizations understand their risks and implement solutions that manage those risks to the highest degree possible so that they can be confident and compliant while enabling the full potential of mobility. Its MRM products go beyond traditional mobile device management practices to continuously verify the integrity and configuration of mobile devices and apps, protect them from private data loss and security breaches, monitor and track regulatory compliance and prove it through enterprise reporting and auditability. The company’s solutions are built on a strong foundation of government partnerships and standards. Through the National Security Agency (NSA) Technology Transfer Program (TTP), Fixmo has commercialized and further advanced powerful MRM technologies initially developed by the U.S. Government’s National Security Agency. Fixmo is headquartered in Sterling, Virginia and Toronto, Canada.

For more information about Fixmo and mobile risk management visit www.fixmo.com.

SOURCE: Fixmo Inc.

Washington, D.C. – Paladin Capital Group, a leading multi-stage private equity firm based in Washington D.C., is pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Paul Conley to Managing Director. Dr. Conley possesses a broad set of skills and deep experience base as an investor, entrepreneur and technologist and has been a key principal leading new investments for the firm. Paladin Capital Group also promoted Christopher Steed to Vice President from Senior Associate and Gibb Witham to Senior Associate from Associate.

“Paul’s knowledge and expertise covers the spectrum,” said Michael Steed, Paladin Capital Group’s founder and managing partner. “We continue to be inspired by all that Paul brings to the team, and we’re also thrilled to be promoting Christopher and Gibb.”

Since joining Paladin in 2007, Dr. Conley provides “hands on” support and oversight to Paladin’s portfolio. Before joining the team, Paul’s 15 years of technology and entrepreneurial experience saw him leading the effort to modernize mission critical software across more than 70 agencies in Washington D.C. He was the cofounder and chief executive of BrightScale, a Silicon Valley-based fab-less semiconductor company, and of Appfluent Technology, a business intelligence infrastructure software firm. Dr. Conley spent nearly a decade in various R&D roles in the fields of supercomputing, fluid dynamics, materials science, combustion physics and biomedical engineering – including post-doctoral work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He earned his PhD in Computational and Applied Physics and an MS in Bioengineering from the University of California San Diego, as well as an MS and BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Christopher Steed joined Paladin in 2008 after working at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Steed holds his Series 7, Series 66 and Series 79 certifications and is licensed as an Investment Advisory Representative as well as an Investment Banking Representative with FINRA. He is also a member of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association. He graduated from Duke University with a BA in political science.

Gibb Witham joined Paladin in 2011 and focuses on early and growth stage investments in technology companies. Prior to joining the Paladin team, he worked as an engagement manager in IBM’s strategy consulting practice where he advised technology, life sciences and retail clients on growth strategies for emerging business units. Gibb graduated cum laude from Columbia University with a BS in chemical engineering.

Sterling, Va. – November 28^th, 2011 – Fixmo Inc., the mobile risk management (MRM) company, today announced it has closed a $23 million Series C round, led by new investor Paladin Capital Group. Horizons Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers join as new investors; existing investors and management all participated in the round.

The funding will enable Fixmo to continue driving the emerging MRM market and expand its line of products that manage the risks associated with mobile devices and help organizations maintain and prove regulatory compliance. Fixmo’s MRM offerings are built on a strong foundation of government partnerships and standards, including a technology transfer agreement and collaborative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

As the round closes, Lt. Gen. Kenneth A. Minihan (US Air Force—Ret.) and Frank Meehan join Fixmo’s Board of Directors. Lt. Gen. Minihan, former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency, is a managing director at Paladin Capital Group. Mr. Meehan is the founder of INQ Mobile and a former board member of Spotify and SIRI.

MRM: Managing Risk and Compliance to Enable the Full Potential of Mobility

MRM is an emerging category of technologies that empower organizations to identify, mitigate and manage the risks associated with mobile devices, including financial risk due to regulatory non-compliance; reputational risk resulting from security breaches and violations; and competitive risks from intellectual property and data leakage. MRM helps organizations go beyond traditional mobile device management (MDM) practices, which have primarily relied on risk avoidance or control tactics that limit how devices can be used by employees, to help them exercise the full potential of mobility while protecting corporate data and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Using a “risk mitigation” philosophy, Fixmo MRM enables organizations to support a wide range of mobile devices and confidently embrace the “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend by taking a holistic approach to MDM, corporate data security and mobile application management (MAM), and fusing them with comprehensive integrity monitoring and verification, malware prevention, risk intelligence and IT compliance reporting. Fixmo MRM gives organizations the tools they need to ensure the mobile devices on their corporate network start, and remain, in a trusted and compliant state and that they can prove compliance with internal policies and government regulations.

“We are seeing rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets by the enterprise, and a large portion of this is driven by employee liable devices. Only 30.1% of US companies expressly ban the use of mobile devices not issued by IT,” said Chris Hazelton, Research Director, Mobile & Wireless for 451 Research. “Many of today’s device management tools focus on the physical risk – devices that are lost or stolen. While lost or stolen devices are the most frequent type of mobile security breach today, IT must also address the increasing risk of digital threats that are targeting both employee and corporate liable devices in the enterprise. In this way enterprise security and end-user productivity can be balanced while ensuring data security and organizational compliance.”

Fixmo’s mobile risk management offerings—which currently include Fixmo Sentinel and the new Fixmo SafeZone secure container—continuously monitor and verify the configuration and integrity of mobile devices and infrastructure, protect corporate data from loss or theft and provide powerful reporting and analytics tools that help organizations prevent potential threats and prove regulatory compliance. In 2012 the company plans to expand its offerings with additional MRM solutions for carriers, consumers, enterprises and government agencies.

“There is a rapidly growing need for organizations to heighten their risk management practices around mobile devices to ensure they are maintaining compliance with security policies and government regulations,” said Rick Segal, Founder and CEO of Fixmo. “This round of funding is critical for Fixmo as we continue to drive the MRM market while extending our offerings into new market segments and geographies. We are very proud to have these top-tier venture partners and such prominent individuals on our board. Their expertise and direction will be invaluable.”

Fixmo will be demonstrating their MRM solutions as a Platinum Sponsor at the Financial Services-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) Fall Summit from November 29^th through December 1^st at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

About Paladin Capital Group

With offices in Washington, D.C., New York, New York and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Paladin Capital Group is a leading multi-stage private equity firm providing capital and strategic guidance to growing companies in the IT, telecommunications and alternative energy sectors.  The firm focuses on companies with products and services that are “dual use” in nature, serving both commercial and government customers.    Paladin has over $950 million dollars of committed capital across multiple funds and has invested in over 50 portfolio companies.

http://www.paladincapgroup.com

About Fixmo

Fixmo is the Mobile Risk Management (MRM) company that empowers enterprises and government agencies to identify, mitigate and manage the risks associated with using mobile devices for business and personal use. Fixmo helps organizations understand their risks and implement solutions that mitigate and manage those risks to the highest degree possible so that they can be confident and compliant while enabling the full potential of mobility. Fixmo’s MRM solutions continuously verify the integrity and authenticity of mobile devices and apps, protect them from private data loss and security breaches, monitor and track regulatory compliance and enable them to prove their adherence through enterprise reporting and auditability.

Fixmo solutions are built on a strong foundation of government partnerships and standards. Through a technology transfer agreement, Fixmo’s products have been built on a foundation of MRM technologies initially developed by the U.S. Government’s National Security Agency (NSA) and its Fixmo SafeZone solution has received FIPS 140-2 certification. Fixmo is headquartered in Sterling, Virginia and Toronto, Canada.

http://www.fixmo.com

About this time last year, my oldest son William, a wonderfully sensitive 8-year-old who builds robots and publishes a daily newsletter in his spare time, announced that he wanted to play football in the fall. Not flag but tackle football, with full padding.  My husband, David, was the picture of a supportive father. Despite the fact that we have been advised since he was about 4 years old that he needs to get into contact sports (including by two absolutely lovely 2^nd grade teachers), I was completely against it.

I follow sports enough to know that football leads the catastrophic injury statistics. Also, more so than almost any other sport, until their bodies have undergone teenage transformation, most boys will have no idea what kind of player they can be. But from a cost/benefit point of view, it’s not an easy call. I don’t aspire for my children to be professional athletes, but I do want sports to be part of their lives. In order to best use their incredible brains to create (engineering), innovate (physics and math) or save lives (medicine), they need to learn to work in teams, across disciplines and with different types of people. Competitive team sports are a great way to learn that. And truth be told, I also love football.  I covered it as a sports writer in college, I lose money in our NFL pool every year, and despite griping about being a football widow each fall, I probably watch more games than my husband.

So while as a mom I occasionally see the world as an amalgamation of things that can hurt my children, I also know that playing competitive sports (in the context of a great education) is important and fun. I told David that I’d be fine with William playing as long as I had nothing to do with it.  He had to sign him up and arrange for him to get to practice every day — no easy feat given that our chosen league, Maplewood, is in Maryland, we live in downtown DC and practices were every day in August and 3 times per week when school started.  I figured that given the logistical challenges, it would never happen. But it did.

And as it turned out, when August rolled around and daily practices began, David got called out of town for work.  I arranged for a babysitter to transport William, but he couldn’t do it the first week, so I begrudgingly agreed to take over for that week, secretly curious to see what his new league was all about.

I arrived at the Maplewood football field to join more than 100 players ages 6 to 12, at least 100 parents and 30 coaches. I was very skeptical.

For about 5 minutes.

And then it was like I had downed 100 gallons of Maplewood football Kool-Aid in an instant.  There was something about that first day – the speeches that the coaches gave, the sense of family that they created, of respect for the sport and for the team, and the hard core, no-nonsense practice they began. It set off every competitive neuron in my body. I was home. The youngest kids were 6 and William was 8 and a newcomer but no one got it easy … and no one got it rough.  Coaches would push the kids, yell at them (I could see the smile on their face though) and demand that they put 100% on the field from that first day. Many of the coaches had played college football. I was completely overwhelmed by the high caliber of coaching and the commitment these coaches made to Maplewood, to football and to our boys.

For the rest of August, I discharged the babysitter and changed my schedule around so I could be at practice every day. I went with my iPad and my iPhone and set up my temporary office on the sideline. I was fascinated.  The first day William practiced with a helmet he ran up to me during a water break, took off his helmet, pointed at his soaking wet head of hair, and said, “look mom … sweat! I’m sweating.”  This child of mine who does three sports each season had apparently never broken a sweat before. There was a brutal summer heat wave last August that caused our puppy Thor to collapse — the vet ordered me not to let him outside for the remainder of August because it was too hot.  William, however, practiced every day in that brutal summer heat and never complained. That was new. The first time he tackled and flattened a kid, there was an overwhelming sense of pride that was unavoidable.

During the course of the season, four coaches took a group of 6- to 8-year-old boys weighing between 45 and 80lbs who had not only never played together but had mostly never played football, and taught them to love the game in all its nuances. They taught them to give it their all and lay it on the line. The dad/coaches on William’s team were all professionals with BIG jobs (really big jobs) and they showed up for every hour of practice, August through November.  I learned later that they were sketching plays during their work day and holding conference calls late into the night. The kids played through August’s heat and winter’s freezing rain. There was one game where every player sobbed through four quarters of horrible weather – frigid wind and icy rain — without asking to be pulled out. Parents and spectators took shelter in their cars, but these little kids played till they physically couldn’t. Watching games and practices, you couldn’t pick who was the coaches’ son and who wasn’t. Every parent of an athlete knows what I mean by that.

On the sideline at games, sporting my “Maplewood Mama” sweatshirt with pride, I was yelling my head off and ringing cowbells. As were the other moms — many just like me, unwillingly pulled into football by their husbands, now embarrassing everyone with their screaming (“HIT ‘EM HARD!” “MAKE IT HURT!”) as the dads cringed in horror and moved far away. I looked forward to chain duty because it got me on the field and closer to the action.

I know it’s not the NFL — I get it, but there’s just something about football that’s unlike any other sport to watch. Eleven children, each with a specific job, all modern-day gladiators, hurling their bodies to clear a path for a teammate, or get into the end zone.  That’s what football players do. In one of our games, our running back was trying to get into the open to score and the largest player on the opposing team was about to take him down when out of nowhere one of our younger players threw one of the best blocks I’ve seen. You could hear the block from the stands. This selfless athlete hurled his body at someone much bigger than himself to clear the path for his teammate. In what other sport do you see a 7-year-old do that, and then get up and do it again?

By the end of the season, my colleagues and friends surely grew tired of hearing me rave about football while recalling the play-by-play of each game. The kids on William’s team had an incredible season and almost made it to the Super Bowl. They lost their final playoff game by one point in overtime, holding back a significantly bigger team that had beaten them 19-0 in regular season play. The loss was undoubtedly a character building experience.

Even so, my effusive passion for the sport has done little to convince other parents at our school to put their boys in football.  Everyone worries about catastrophic injuries, as do I.

The odds say not to panic, however. Consider the blaring media coverage about child abductions that maintains a panicky grip on parents even as the odds make the glaringly long odds against it clear.  There are about 74 million children in the U.S. and 115 non-family abductions (this excludes runaways, lost and throwaway children).  So while all of us worry that our children will be abducted if allowed to play outside or roam the neighborhood or walk to school, the actual likelihood is 0.0002%. Ironically, studies show that about 20% of children between the age of 10 and 17 receive an unwanted sexual solicitation online. Our fears about child abduction may actually be putting our children at higher risk if by keeping them inside we are giving them more time online.

Likewise, there are about 1.8 million football players in the U.S engaging in the sport annually.  In 2010, there were seven spinal cord injuries with incomplete recovery and five fatalities (this includes college football). Defensive backs, kick off special team players and linebackers suffer the most injuries. By contrast, during the 2009/2010 ski season, there were 38 fatalities and 43 catastrophic injuries out of approximately 10 million skiers/snowboarders. That means statistically, you have an equal chance of suffering a devastating injury skiing or snowboarding as you do playing football (.0008% and .0007%). Either way these are still amazing Vegas odds. And yet, I can’t tell you how many of my friends, who take their kids skiing every year, insist that football is way too dangerous.

Of course, there is the concussion issue with the rate of concussion in football estimated at between 6% and 60% depending on the study. Linebackers suffer the most concussions on defense and running backs on offense. The concussion rate is pretty high, no question about it. Of course girls’ soccer is right up there with almost a 40% concussion rate. And boys’ soccer is not that far behind. My good friend who was captain of his high school soccer team had three concussions in his senior year. He won’t let his boys play football, but they are playing soccer. Girls sustain a higher rate of concussions than boys but certainly we should not suspend girls’ sports. Girls’ basketball competition is the fourth leading cause of concussions after boys’ soccer and I can attest to that because on my basketball team, there were multiple concussions each season. We also suffered broken bones, pulled ligaments, tendons, twisted ankles, dislocated joints, and bruised ribs. To put things in perspective, concussions only represent about 9% of all high school injuries, so if your child plays any sport, be prepared to visit the ER. There are over 7 million high school student athletes who suffer 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations annually. I don’t mean to scare anyone from youth sports, just to put football injuries in context. I also don’t mean to make light of the concussion issue- it is real, across multiple sports, and must be addressed through better preventive steps, training, technology and equipment, reporting, diagnosis, and treatment. Dealing with the issue of repeat concussions is critical for football, lacrosse, soccer and girls’ basketball especially. It also requires parental vigilance in allowing full recovery from a concussion before a child is allowed to play again.

Now I realize that we humans are incapable of internalizing statistics when it has to do with us and our children. And I don’t expect that most parents can objectively, analytically, decide whether football is an appropriate sport for their child or not.  We make most of our parenting decisions based on gut instinct, intuition, hopefully guided by our children’s talents.  Having said that, take it from a crazy football mom that if your child loves the game, and he (and sometimes she) must love the game, it presents an unmatched growth opportunity to build character and strength on and off the field.

A group of families from our team got together this weekend to play a friendly game of flag football.  And all we could talk about is off-season training and conditioning and the countdown to August 2012 when we can start the madness all over again.

Does any of this have anything to do with venture capital? I’m glad you asked, because the answer is an unequivocal “absolutely.” Consider:

1. In venture capital, we look for great teams.  A winning CEO must be a coach and a mentor and know how to pick a great team, motivate it, maintain discipline and make the hard decisions about who to hire and who to cut. They know how to bring out the best in their players, demand a high level of performance and get it. This is what great coaches do every day.
2. There are no ball hogs in football or venture capital.  Unlike soccer and basketball where one child can ruin the sport for his teammates by hogging the ball, it is almost impossible to do that in football.  Similarly, I am not a fan of the cult of the CEO or executives who are not great team players willing to do what is right for the company and its shareholders. There are painful decisions that some entrepreneurs make with incredible grace – bringing in a new CEO at the right time is one of the hardest. There are hundreds of other tough decisions where the founder or CEO must be selfless to increase the chances of success.
3. Like crazy football moms who bring the drinks and snacks, do chain duty, act as spotters for the coach and scout the competition, venture capitalists are crazy fans on the sideline who hopefully contribute a lot more than money. But at the end of the day, we don’t run the companies. We are active board members who provide guidance and add value through our networks, but the team has to walk through every door we open, and execute on the plan. We do yell and scream loudly from the sidelines though. Perhaps I should bring a cowbell to my next board meeting.

As it relates to prices, it is important to keep in mind that the supply side of corn, as with any commodity market, is not static over time and that producers (farmers) respond to changing demand in the marketplace.  In 2004 (a year prior to the implementation of the first renewable fuels standard), the ethanol industry used a net 800 million bushels of corn (net of distillers grain output).  As the industry has grown rapidly, this net usage will be nearly 3.4 billion bushels in 2011.  As other sources of demand for corn have been generally flat (food, exports, and feed), incomplete analysis often focuses on the ethanol industry’s 2.6 billion bushel demand increase in this time period as the sole or primary cause for higher corn costs.  However, to complete the picture, total supply of corn in 2011 versus 2004 is nearly 3 billion bushels higher due to increased production (more acreage and higher yields).  In the end, USDA expects that the corn surplus for the crop year ending in 2011 will likely be about the same as 2004 (around 900 million bushels).  When the data is analyzed objectively, it is hard to find that corn for ethanol has notably disrupted supply-demand fundamentals – it is a layer of demand that has gradually grown over the last seven years and has easily been met by steadily increasing supply.

That said, the concern over sharply higher corn prices is certainly justified – net farm prices in the most recent crop year will likely be $5.50 to $6.00 per bushel whereas they were $2.42 per bushel in 2004.  So, why is this the case when the supply-demand equation is not dramatically different?  Although there are a large number of variables impacting grain prices, including anything from weather conditions to the strength of the U.S. dollar, one clear significant driver is the cost of energy.  As a very basic metric, the price of crude oil in 2004 was around $38 per barrel while it is nearly $90 per barrel today.  This drives the cost of fertilizers and freight, which have increased in-line with crude oil prices and represent significant components of the cost of producing grain and other agricultural products.  Not surprisingly, these increased production costs are being reflected in market prices today for virtually all agricultural commodities, including corn.

While there tends to be significant controversy around this issue, the notion of “food versus fuel” is not only a misnomer but misses the more important problem.  Increased demand for biofuels has stimulated significantly higher corn production, without a material impact on corn availability for other uses.  From a broader perspective, the real challenge is that volatility in the pricing of (largely imported) fossil fuels will continue to have a notable impact on domestic energy and food prices going forward.  Increased domestic production of cost-effective, renewable fuels from a variety of agricultural and biomass feedstocks can and should be an important part of the solution.

Source:  US Department of Agriculture

Source: RFA

Deep Green III is the latest phase of DARPA’s Deep Green Program, which is focused on decision support systems that commanders can use to create potential COAs for simulated outcomes. Adapx is contributing to the Deep Green Program’s “Sketch-through-plan” capabilities, which enable commanders to easily draw up plans by speaking and sketching military symbols on digital map displays, which Deep Green interprets and uses to populate operations orders. Adapx has contributed its advanced multimodal (speech and sketch) technology to prior phases of the program through DARPA contractors BAE and SAIC.

“We’re very pleased to continue our work with DARPA in Deep Green Phase III,” said Ken Schneider, CEO of Adapx. “Adapx is focused on providing natural user interface solutions for command and control to reduce data entry obstacles for Warfighters so they can improve planning and decision-making.”

About Adapx
Capturx Software from Adapx speeds data capture and collaboration by turning natural speech, sketch, and handwriting into actionable data in Microsoft Office, SharePoint, CRM, ERP, GIS, C2, C4ISR systems and many other back-end systems. By simply speaking and writing, teams get instant access to structured data collected on paper, touchscreens, mobile devices, and wall displays. A range of enterprises and agencies speed workflows and reduce risk by using Capturx to bypass data transcription from paper and cumbersome keyboard- and menu-driven interfaces. Adapx has strategic relationships with Microsoft, ESRI, In-Q-Tel, and works with standard digital pen technology from Anoto. www.adapx.com

Washington, DC based Paladin Capital Group has focused on investments in Homeland Security related companies since 2002 and, more recently, on companies that have products, services and technologies that are exclusively focused on protecting critical cyber-related infrastructure.

“Cyber security is a sector with clear market growth potential making it an attractive investment opportunity,” said Jassem Al Zaabi, Executive Director of Mubadala ICT.  “As a highly innovative leader in this industry with proven technology across botnet detection and neutralization, Damballa is an exciting company to invest in with an experienced management team well placed to capitalize on future opportunities. Paladin has been key in identifying and executing this investment.”

“The advanced and persistent nature of recent targeted cyber attacks has outpaced all existing security defenses for most private and public sector network security teams,” said Lt. General Kenneth A Minihan (USAF ret.), a Managing Director at Paladin and the former Director of the National Security Agency (NSA). “Damballa is the clear leader in cyber threat security solutions for enterprise and service provider networks and has experienced rapid growth due to its innovative solutions and world-recognized threat research team.  We are excited about the significant growth potential for Damballa in its existing markets and its innovative plans to protect cloud and public sector networks from cyber threats and abuse. We are proud to join the dynamic and experienced executive management team that Damballa has assembled.”

Damballa provides cyber threat solutions for enterprise, ISP and telecommunication networks. Damballa solutions detect and terminate malicious activity associated with botnets and advanced malware that exfiltrates corporate data such as intellectual property or login credentials.  Damballa’s customers are among the largest, most respected brands in their industries, and the advanced protection they count on from Damballa has resulted in an excellent renewal rate.  As more network activity shifts to mobile devices and the cloud, Damballa is leading the market in protecting these networks from cyber attacks and targeted threats.

About Mubadala Development Company
Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala) is a catalyst for the economic diversification of Abu Dhabi.  Established and owned by the Government, the company’s strategy is built on the management of long-term, capital-intensive investments that deliver strong financial returns and tangible social benefits to the Emirate.

The company partners with leading global organizations to operate businesses across a wide range of industry sectors including aerospace, financial services, healthcare, information communications and technology, infrastructure, logistics, metals and mining and real estate. By doing so, Mubadala accomplishes its mission to expand the economic base of the Emirate and contribute to the growth and diversification of the Abu Dhabi economy.

For more information about Mubadala, please visit www.mubadala.ae

About Paladin Capital Group
With offices in Washington, D.C.  New York, New York and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Paladin Capital Group is a leading multi-stage private equity firm providing capital and strategic guidance to growing companies in the IT, telecommunications and alternative energy sectors.  The firm focuses on companies with products and services that are “dual use” in nature, serving both commercial and government customers.    Paladin has over $950 million dollars of committed capital across multiple funds and has invested in over 50 portfolio companies.
http://www.paladincapgroup.com

About Damballa
Damballa is a pioneer in the fight against cybercrime. Damballa provides the only network security solution that detects the remote control communication that criminals use to breach networks to steal personal and intellectual information, and conduct espionage or other fraudulent transactions.  Patent-pending solutions from Damballa are platform and system-agnostic, protecting networks with any type of device including PCs, Macs, smart phones, as well as mobile and embedded systems. Damballa customers include Fortune 1000 companies, Internet and telecommunications service providers, government agencies and leading universities.  Privately held, Damballa is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.

http://www.damballa.com

“We are excited to receive this license from the DFSA for our office in the DIFC as it underscores our commitment to be a ‘best-in-class’ private equity firm in the Middle East,” said Mr. Michael Steed, Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Capital Group and Chairman of Paladin Capital (Middle East) Limited. “We have ambitious plans for growth in the region and we strongly believe that by operating within the realm of an elite regulator, we gain a platform that allows us to serve a wide audience of regional investors.”

The move comes at an important time for the promising Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, according to Kevin Birkett, Head of Financial Services at DIFC Authority.

“Despite the changing political and social scene in the MENA region, the long-term outlook for the private equity sector remains positive due the region’s robust macroeconomic fundamentals,” Birkett said. “By providing a world-class legal and regulatory framework and continuously updating its fund legislation, DIFC offers a secure and productive platform for private equity firms, like Paladin Capital (Middle East) Limited, to take advantage of the opportunities in this sector.”

Paladin Capital (Middle East) Limited’s objective is to launch a variety of private equity funds tailored to the region’s markets that will help promote growth and job creation.

Paladin Capital Group boasts of a long and distinguished track record on behalf of MENA investors. Most recently, Paladin Capital Group announced that Mubadala Development Company, the Abu Dhabi based strategic investment and development company, has partnered with it to invest in Damballa, a pioneer in the fight against cybercrime. Damballa provides the only network security solution that detects the remote control communication that criminals use to breach networks to steal personal and intellectual information, and conduct espionage or other fraudulent transactions.

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About Paladin Capital Group

Paladin Capital Group is a leading multi-stage private equity firm with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, New York and Dubai, UAE that provides funding to growing companies. Across the globe, from Silicon Valley to Brazil, Paladin invests in “best-of-breed” companies with technologies, products, and services that meet the challenging demands of commercial, federal, and international customers. Paladin is comprised of individuals with a proven track record of financial expertise, national security experience and specialized technical competence. Collectively, Paladin’s investment professionals have completed over 125 direct and co-investments transactions in a wide range of industries. Paladin has approximately USD 1 billion of committed and invested capital across multiple funds and has invested in over 50 portfolio companies.

For further information, visit: http://www.paladincapgroup.com

About the DIFC

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is the financial and business hub connecting the region’s emerging markets with the developed markets of Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Since its launch in 2004, DIFC, a purposely built financial free-zone, has been committed to encouraging economic growth and development in the region through its strong financial and business infrastructure. Currently, DIFC’s client base comprises over 800 active registered firms, including 18 of the top 25 global banks, 8 of the largest global asset managers, 7 of the 10 largest insurers and 6 of the top 10 law firms in the world. More than 11 thousand employees operate in an open environment complemented by international legal and regulatory standards. DIFC offers its member companies benefits such as 100 percent foreign ownership, zero percent tax rate, with no restriction on capital convertibility or profit repatriation. DIFC has its own independent financial and ancillary services regulatory body, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). It also has the DIFC Courts, which is an independent common law judiciary based in DIFC with jurisdiction over civil and commercial disputes in or relating to the Centre.

DIFC is built upon a modern legal, regulatory and physical infrastructure which makes it the destination of choice for Financial Services firms establishing a presence in the region.

For further information, visit: www.difc.ae, or on Twitter @DIFC.

Words matter.  Understanding those words and cyber developments in the 21st century is critical to our success. Realizing this success is realizing it will mostly be bounded by mega trends. Cyber technology and with it cyber power will develop very quickly, measured generally in quarter or half years—web years. Secondly, power sharing will shift dramatically from nation states to transnational actors. Advanced commercial information technologies will be applied to most military systems. Global relationships will remain conflicted and engaged worldwide, even during so-called periods of peacetime. Lastly, the global environment will become more stressful, impacted by terrorism, natural disasters and inappropriate or illegal activity.  Make no mistake, this is a competition for our future..

As we look at this time of continued transition of the cyber age, it is important to think about what it means. Again, words matter. Future battle space will not be geographically confined. Cyber technologies will present opportunities for lethal and non-lethal operations.  Information dependency will present operational vulnerabilities to public and private resources.  Defining, defending and exploiting the medium will be what it is all about. The defense challenge will be to try to understand the changing threat in the context of operations other than war while seeking to “own” the technology space.  Some will get it right and some will not as we transition to the realities of the 21^st century.

Some of the issues for this time of transition are not easily resolved. The global security environment will continue to be obtuse economically and militarily. The distinctions between peace and war, national and transnational, and defense and commerce remain blurred. New thinking is emerging as we analyze the emerging threat and it diffusion of power. Asynchronous security challenges abound as we try to understand simultaneous information operations.  What has changed? New information technology allows one to see the adversary everywhere, physically and virtually. We can target vulnerabilities with lethal and non-lethal options while conducting dispersed precision network operations. Exploiting the medium will be what it is all about.

Today’s threat is fulsome, with both a horizontal and vertical extent not unlike an iceberg.   We see two categories of threat: unstructured and structured. The unstructured threat manifests itself in random attacks by individuals/groups/regional organizations that degrade system operations—the tip of the iceberg. The structured threat is planned, methodical attacks by nation states and transnational organizations supported by intelligence that threaten system survival—the body of the iceberg. We are not yet performing well in combating the structured threat in the body of the iceberg, and thus our heightened attention to cyber security.

Is the threat to cyber security or national security? Again, the words matter. In a world critically dependent on networks for information, energy, transportation, technology and systems for essential national security and business operations, it would seem national security is at risk. The narrow focus on cyber security has been ineffective and has ratcheted up the risk to exposed vulnerabilities and the potential damage toll to unacceptable levels. Gone are the days when we could consider the cyber threat as a technology challenge independent of the threat to national, and yes, global security. Welcome to the Cyber Age with its global challenges, revolutionary technologies and shared vulnerabilities. Security in the Cyber Age has its own unique challenges. How do we turn shared vulnerabilities into shared opportunities; how do we build competitive advantage in a world more narrowly focused on security; and, how do we build trusted solutions that can be shared by the public and private sectors?

Security in the Cyber Age must include the global domain of critical infrastructure where we live, work and play. The public and private sector have an ever growing dependence on large-scale, highly distributed systems. Industry owns a significant portion of the cyber space critical infrastructure and it is all about the data not the network. The constantly evolving nature of the threat with ever increasing numbers and impact of cyber attacks suggests our adversaries see beyond cyber security into a comprehensive and agile attack across the public and private sector taking advantage of the seams between each. Tough, complex technical challenges must be met by the public-private sector partnership. It is time to engage them as a team with a shared vision:  Security in the Cyber Age.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Kenneth A. Minihan is a former director of the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is currently a managing director in the Paladin Capital Group.