BeyondTrust

Last updated
BeyondTrust
Company typePrivate
Industry Enterprise Security
Identity Management and Access Control, Vulnerability Management, Compliance Reporting
Founded1985
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Key people
Matt Dircks, Executive Chairman
Janine Seebeck, CEO
Chris Jones, Chief Revenue Officer
Morey Haber, Chief Technology Officer
Dan Derosa, Chief Product Officer
Dave Giles, Chief Customer Success Officer
Liz Shulof, Chief Marketing Officer
ProductsPrivilege and Identity Management
Vulnerability Management
Secure Remote Access
OwnerPrivately held
Number of employees
~ 1500
Website https://www.beyondtrust.com/

BeyondTrust (formerly Symark) is an American company that develops, markets, and supports a family of privileged identity management / access management (PIM/PAM), privileged remote access, and vulnerability management products for UNIX, Linux, Windows and macOS operating systems.

Contents

BeyondTrust was founded in 2006 and provided Least Privilege Management software for the Microsoft Windows OS, before UNIX vendor Symark acquired BeyondTrust in 2009. [1] [2] In 2018, the company was acquired by Bomgar, a developer of remote support and PAM software. [3] In both cases, BeyondTrust was adopted as the new company name. [4] [5]

History

Symark

Symark was founded in 1985 as a VAX/VMS utility software company in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Its name is derived from the initials of its founders, Bob Sommers and Doug Yarrow. Symark was also a client-server computing vendor, before later acquiring a license for the UNIX security product UPM (now owned by Quest Software) [6] and rebranding their version PowerBroker. [7] [8] Symark relocated to Westlake Village, California, then again to Agoura Hills.

The company was focused on identity, access, and password management for privileged users on UNIX [9] systems. From 2003—2008 the company expanded in Spain, Portugal, Japan and Latin America. During the same time period, they also grew by almost 300 percent and were one of the fastest growing private companies in the Los Angeles area.

The original BeyondTrust

In 2003, AutoProf introduced the AutoProf Policy maker, which was the first commercial product [10] to build upon Microsoft's built-in Group Policy Objects to make common tasks like mapping network drives or sharing printer connections easier. In 2005, AutoProf grew 90% in revenue over the previous year [11] and changed the company name to DesktopStandard. [12] Four million desktops were under the management of DesktopStandard's software across 3,500 customers. Between 2003—2005, DesktopStandard added six products to their portfolio for RBAC, password management, and identity access management on Windows. In 2006, Microsoft acquired most of DesktopStandard's products, and DesktopStandard's CEO formed a new company (BeyondTrust) around the remaining Policy Maker Application Security product. [13]

Acquisitions

2009: Symark acquired the Windows-based business of BeyondTrust in 2009 for approximately $20 million [14] and they adopted BeyondTrust as the new company name. [15]

2011: BeyondTrust acquired software from Likewise Software. [16]

May 2012: BeyondTrust acquired Vulnerability Management Pioneer eEye Digital Security. [17]

December 2012: BeyondTrust acquired Blackbird Group. [18]

September 2014: Veritas Capital acquired BeyondTrust for $310 million. [19]

October 2018: Bomgar acquired BeyondTrust from Veritas. [20]

Bomgar

Bomgar
Developer(s) BeyondTrust Software, Inc.
Initial release2003 [21]
Operating system Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Linux, OS X, Windows, Windows Mobile [22]
Type Remote administration
License Proprietary
Website www.beyondtrust.com/brand/bomgar

Bomgar was a remote support provider that allows support technicians to remotely connect to end-user systems through firewalls from their computer or mobile device. Using the Bomgar Representative Console, technology support professionals can access and control systems and devices remotely, including personal computers, smartphones, tablets, servers, switches, point-of-sale systems and others. [23]

The company originated when Joel Bomgaars developed his own remote support solutions to cut back on wasted hours he spent travelling while working as a support professional for a local company. In June 2003, he set up a one-page, static website selling his own, home-grown remote access solution, calling it ExpertVNC. Soon thereafter, his two college friends, Nathan McNeill and Patrick Norman, joined Bomgar as co-founders. [24]

In May 2004, ExpertVNC changed its name to NetworkStreaming. In the next month it changed its cloud-based product to an appliance model, differentiating itself from other similar remote support solutions.

In February 2007, NetworkStreaming changes its company name to Bomgar, a simplified form of Joel Bomgaars' family name that he also chose to use professionally for himself. [25] [26] [27]

Bomgar's first private equity investors, TA Associates, placed a majority investment in Bomgar in May 2014. [28]

In April 2018, Francisco Partners announced that it acquired Bomgar from Thoma Bravo, [29] which owned Bomgar since June 2016. [30] Financial details of this deal were not disclosed.

Bomgar now operates under the name BeyondTrust. [31] [32]

Treasury Department hacking incident

It was reported on December 30, 2024 that BeyondTrust was implicated in a hacking incident against the U.S. Treasury Department by state-sponsored Chinese hackers. [33] According to the report, the hackers stole an API key for a remote support SaaS application from BeyondTrust and used it to compromise U.S. Treasury workstations, viewing unclassified documents in what was described as a "major incident." [34] [35]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ By Steve Ragan, The Tech Herald. "Symark and BeyondTrust – best acquisition ever. September 14, 2009."
  2. ↑ By Doug Barney, Redmond Magazine. "Desktop Standard Bought by Microsoft -- Mostly Archived 2011-04-11 at the Wayback Machine . " October 3, 2006. Retrieved on August 28, 2009.
  3. ↑ By Andrew Ross, InformationAge. "Bomgar completes acquisition of BeyondTrust Archived 2018-10-04 at the Wayback Machine . " October 4, 2018.
  4. ↑ By Sean Michael Kerner, eWeek. "Bomgar to Be Renamed BeyondTrust After Acquisition of PAM Vendor Archived 2023-09-11 at the Wayback Machine . " September 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ By Tim Wilson, Dark Reading. "Symark Buys BeyondTrust, Takes BeyondTrust Name Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine . " September 14, 2009.
  6. ↑ "PassGo Will Bring Quest Greater Multiplatform Capabilities". www.gartner.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  7. ↑ Jeff, Parker (22 August 2017). "BeyondTrust PowerBroker Active Directory Tools for PCI/SOX/HIPAA Compliance". ITTSystems.com. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  8. ↑ By Alex Woodie, The Linux Beacon. "Symark Tackles Tough Access Control Problems Archived January 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine . " April 2, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Unix Privileged Identity & Access Management". 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  10. ↑ Tulloch, Mitch. "Windows Server Hacks: AutoProf Policy Maker". WindowsDevCenter. O'Reilly. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Press Release. "AutoProf Announces Record Year Revenue Growth. " January 12, 2005. Retrieved on August 28, 2009
  12. ↑ Press Release. "Article: AutoProf Announces Name Change and Releases Group Policy Security Product; DesktopStandard Corporation Provides Application-Level Security Product to Satisfy Regulatory Compliance Needs [ dead link ]. " January 26, 2005. Retrieved on August 28, 2009.
  13. ↑ Montalbano, Elizabeth (2006-10-02). "Microsoft buys DesktopStandard". InfoWorld. Archived from the original on 2019-08-17. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  14. ↑ "BeyondTrust | ITworld". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-01-07.
  15. ↑ By Jackie Noblett, Mass High Tech. "BeyondTrust acquired by Symark Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine . September 14, 2009
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  17. ↑ "BeyondTrust Acquires Vulnerability Management Pioneer eEye Digital Security | Reuters". Reuters . Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
  18. ↑ Peacock, Marisa (12 December 2012). "BeyondTrust Acquires BlackBird Group, Improves Enterprise Security". CMSWire. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  19. ↑ Osborne, Charlie (3 September 2014). "Veritas Capital snaps up security firm BeyondTrust for $310 million". ZDNet . Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  20. ↑ "Bomgar to be Renamed BeyondTrust After Acquisition of PAM Vendor". 13 September 2018.
  21. ↑ "FAQs". Bomgar. Archived from the original on 2010-05-16. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  22. ↑ "Bomgar Unveils FIPS-Compliant Remote Access Helpdesk Tool". darkReading. June 21, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  23. ↑ Ohlhotst, Frank (January 13, 2009). "Bomgar Offer an Appliance for All Remote Support Needs". ChannelInsider. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
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  25. ↑ McNamara, Paul. "Company's new name has familiar ring". Network World. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  26. ↑ Fenn, Donna (August 16, 2010). "Is There a Memorable Brand Hidden in Your Name?". CBS News. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  27. ↑ Blakely, Lindsay (December 23, 2010). "A New Brand Name Changed Everything". CBS News. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  28. ↑ "News | TA". TA Associates. Archived from the original on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
  29. ↑ "Francisco Partners Acquires Bomgar | BOMGAR". www.bomgar.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
  30. ↑ "Thoma Bravo Acquires Bomgar, Strengthens Security Software Portfolio | BOMGAR". www.bomgar.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
  31. ↑ "Bomgar Is Now BeyondTrust". Archived from the original on 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  32. ↑ Kerner, Sean (2018-09-13). "Bomgar to Be Renamed BeyondTrust After Acquisition of PAM Vendor". eWeek. Archived from the original on 2023-09-11. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
  33. ↑ "Treasury says Chinese hackers remotely accessed workstations, documents in 'major' cyber incident". Associated Press . 2024-12-30. Archived from the original on 2024-12-30. Retrieved 2024-12-31.
  34. ↑ "What to know about string of US hacks blamed on China". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
  35. ↑ Shapero, Julia (2024-12-30). "Chinese hackers breached Treasury Department, agency says". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
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