Critical Start

Last updated
Critical Start
Company typePrivate
Industry Cybersecurity
Founded2012
FounderRob Davis
HeadquartersPlano,
Texas
,
United States
Key people
  • Scott White (CEO)
  • Randy Watkins (CTO)
  • Kimberly Graham (CPO)
  • John Schilsky (CFO)
Website www.criticalstart.com

Critical Start is a cybersecurity company based in Plano, Texas, with offices across the United States. The company provides managed detection and response (MDR), threat intelligence, endpoint security, penetration testing, risk assessments, and incident response services.

Contents

Scott White was appointed CEO in September 2024. [1]

History

Critical Start was founded in 2012 by Rob Davis, a former RSA Security executive. The company’s creation was motivated in part by high-profile nation-state attacks on cybersecurity firms in 2011, including the noted (RSA) SecurID breach. [2]

In March 2018, Critical Start announced an agreement to acquire the security analytics platform, Advanced Threat Analytics, [3] to incorporate its "Zero-Trust" Analytics Platform. [4] As a part of the agreement, Critical Start launched its native iOS and Android mobile security operations center (SOC) application.

Later the next year, Critical Start published its second annual research survey in August 2019. The survey reported that security operations center analysts face, a "surprising number of alerts each day that are taking longer to investigate". [5] According to an article featured on MSSP Alert, the report surveyed (SOC) professionals across enterprises, managed security service providers, and managed detection and response providers to evaluate the state of incident response within security operations centers. Concerns include alert volume and management, security operations center analyst training, turn over, business models, and customer communications. [6]

The survey found that more than 8 out of 10 "SOC" analysts reported that their security operations centers had experienced between 10 percent and 50 percent analyst churn in the past year. [7] Additionally, 70 percent of respondents investigate more than 10 alerts each day, [8] (up from 45 percent the previous year [9] ), while 78 percent state that it takes over 10 minutes to investigate each alert, which is up from 64 percent the previous year. [10] Critical Start revealed, later that month that they would be expanding to a channel-driven model along with the expansion of the company's national distributors and network of value-added resellers. [11]

In June 2023, Critical Start opened two new facilities: one in Lehi, Utah, and another in Pune, India. [12]

Founder and CEO Rob Davis retired in September 2024 and Scott White was named is successor. [1] Davis continues to serve as Executive Chairman. [13] [1]

Funding

In June 2019, Bregal Sagemount, a growth equity firm, invested $40 million in Critical Start as part of the company's first outside investment. [14] According to the Dallas Morning News, the "investment helped accelerate its North American expansion" [15] and partnerships with Microsoft, Splunk, Palo Alto Networks, Cylance, and Carbon Black. It also helped expand the company's market presence for its MDR services, including the opening of new field offices in Los Angeles and New York City. [16]

DC Advisory served as the financial advisor to Critical Start. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. [17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Innovates, Dallas; Murray, Lance (2024-09-20). "Critical Start Appoints New CEO as Part of Planned Executive Transition". Dallas Innovates. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  2. ↑ "Critical Start secures over $215 million strategic growth investment". Bregal. 2025-10-15. Retrieved 2025-10-26.
  3. ↑ "Critical Start to Buy Advanced Threat Analytics". Dark Reading. 15 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  4. ↑ "MSSP Critical Start to Acquire MDR Provider, Create White-Label Channel Offering". Channel Partners. 2018-03-15. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  5. ↑ "New Research From CRITICALSTART Finds That 8 Out of 10 Security Analysts Report Annual Security Operations Center Turnover Is Reaching 10% To More Than 50%" (Press release). PR Newswire. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  6. ↑ Kass, DH (2019-09-02). "SOC Analysts Overwhelmed by Alerts, New Study Finds". MSSP Alert. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  7. ↑ "Alert fatigue a big problem for cybersecurity professionals too". Healthcare IT News. 2019-08-30. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  8. ↑ Vizard, Mike (2019-08-31). "Security analyst burnout should be top of mind on Labor Day". Journey Notes. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  9. ↑ "Alerts are ignored and turnover is high as security teams suffer from incident overload, report says". Enterprise Apps Tech News. 2 September 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  10. ↑ Kass, DH (2019-09-02). "SOC Analysts Overwhelmed by Alerts, New Study Finds". MSSP Alert. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  11. ↑ "Critical Start Unveils All-Channel Strategy". Channel Partners. 2019-10-09. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  12. ↑ Innovates, Dallas; Seeley, David (2023-06-26). "Plano's Critical Start Expands Global Footprint with New Offices in Utah, India". Dallas Innovates. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  13. ↑ Partners, O. N. (2024-09-18). "Critical Start Appoints Chief Executive Officer". ON Partners. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  14. ↑ "Cybersecurity startup Critical Start secures $40 million". Cyber Security Magazine. 2019-06-17. Archived from the original on 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  15. ↑ "What a Plano cybersecurity firm's $40M capital raise tells us about the region's ecosystem". Dallas News. 2019-06-13. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  16. ↑ "Criticalstart Raises $40 Million in Minority Investment To Fuel Growth of Its Zero-Trust Platform". World Biz Magazine. Retrieved 2019-11-14.[ permanent dead link ]
  17. ↑ "DC Advisory acts as exclusive financial advisor to Critical Start on its growth investment from Bregal Sagemount". DC Advisory. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
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