AWS acquires threat hunting startup Sqrrl

Sqrrl (pronounced “squirrel”) was created in 2012, born out of an NSA database project known as Accumulo.

Amazon Web Services announced Tuesday it acquired Boston-area threat hunting startup Sqrrl.

Terms were not disclosed. Sqrrl CEO Mark Terenzoni wrote on the company’s website that he and his co-workers were “thrilled.”

“For now, it is business as usual at Sqrrl. We will continue to work with customers to provide advanced threat hunting capabilities,” Terenzoni said. “And, over time, we’ll work with AWS to do even more on your behalf. Thank you for your support. We really appreciate the trust customers have put into Sqrrl over the past five years, and we are excited about the next phase of our journey.”

The deal, which has been rumored for weeks, comes as the cloud computing behemoth continues to boost its secure offerings. In November, AWS announced its Secret Region, which can handle data up to the Secret level of security classification — the second-highest level behind only Top Secret. The new product filled a gap in the company’s product line — Amazon already was offering a cloud region for Top Secret.

Sqrrl (pronounced “squirrel”) was created in 2012, born out of an NSA database project known as Accumulo. In late 2011 NSA open-sourced Accumulo, and in the spring of 2012 Accumulo become a top-level project at the open-source database nonprofit Apache Foundation. Sqrrl’s enterprise offering is built on top of Accumulo.

Ely Kahn, Sqrrl’s co-founder and vice president of business development, served as director of cybersecurity for the National Security Council from May 2009 to June 2010.

Terenzoni told CyberScoop last year the product has seen growth in the government, financial, telecom and retail industries, but the company caters to “anyone with a SOC or a SIEM.”

Axios first reported the rumored deal in December.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Technology

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure

• Election official says Tina Peters would be consultant, won’t have access to election systems