Combined Company to Deliver a Unified Cybersecurity Compliance Platform to Monitor Users, Devices, Networks and Third-Party Vendors as Financial Firms Deal with Increased Regulatory Cybersecurity and Privacy Oversight
Acquisition Reinforces Entreda’s Position as the Cybersecurity Provider of Choice for the Wealth Management Industry
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and BALTIMORE, Nov. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Entreda, the industry leader in comprehensive cybersecurity software, systems and cyber security training to the independent financial advice industry and a wholly owned subsidiary of Smarsh, today announced the acquisition of Privva. Privva’s cloud-based platform helps companies conduct cyber risk assessments to manage third-party vendor and internal risks.
The acquisition deepens the already-close relationship between Entreda and Privva, which have collaborated as strategic partners for more than two years. Entreda’s products and services help mitigate the risk of breaches to firms’ IT – devices, networks and users. Meanwhile, Privva’s offerings help firms evaluate the cyber preparedness of their vendors and suppliers. Together, they will create a more streamlined and integrated offering, enabling clients to do business with even greater confidence than ever before.
The acquisition comes at a time when the SEC, FINRA and other regulatory bodies are increasing their focus on vendor risk management. Sophisticated and large-scale cyberattacks, including the SolarWinds ransomware attack, are raising concerns about network security with key software suppliers.
Sid Yenamandra, CEO and founder of Entreda, said, “Privva’s game-changing technology enables regulated organizations, including wealth management firms, to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity posture of their third-party vendors and suppliers and do so in a streamlined, automated way. Firms can never be too sure about the cyber hygiene of partners, no matter how familiar they believe they are. They owe it to themselves and their clients to offer a greater level of security, and Privva’s solution offers just that.”
Going forward, Privva will do business under the Entreda brand, and Founder and CEO Ishan Girdhar will continue to lead the Privva organization, reporting to Mr. Yenamandra.
Mr. Girdhar said, “It’s a great honor and pleasure to join Entreda, a Smarsh company and cybersecurity leader in the wealth management space, whose track record of protecting client firms’ sensitive data speaks for itself. Privva and Entreda have worked together for nearly two years implementing Privva’s solution into some of the largest wealth management firms’ platforms. The opportunity to fully integrate with Sid and his team was ideal, as the combined entity will enable both of us to serve firms even more effectively.”
Entreda’s Unify platform, which includes Privva’s solutions, has been a core component of Advisor Group’s CyberGuard program. With six subsidiary firms and more than 10,000 financial advisors, Advisor Group is the nation’s largest network of independent wealth management firms.
Jon DeLaCastro, VP of Security Assurance, Governance, Risk & Compliance, for Advisor Group said, “The closer integration of the Entreda and Privva platforms will enhance Advisor Group’s ability to perform cyber risk assessments of thousands of advisors and branch offices in our network and protect them – along with their clients.”
Sid Yenamandra said, “With the advent of remote work and cloud apps, wealth firms and advisors are relying on tools from third-party vendors more than ever before. Combined with and integrated into our Unify platform, Privva’s proprietary risk scoring methodology will ensure that our client firms can do business with their suppliers, knowing that their data is well protected.”
Entreda is the cybersecurity leader in the wealth management space, with more than 300 firms using its platform. By adding Privva’s clients across financial services, legal, technology, and healthcare, Entreda will expand its footprint beyond its traditional markets.
About Entreda, a wholly owned subsidiary of Smarsh
Entreda is the leading provider of comprehensive cybersecurity software, systems and training to the independent financial advice industry. Its Unify platform monitors endpoints on client networks and automatically remediates vulnerabilities. Unify also offers advanced network vulnerability scanning and penetration testing capabilities. Entreda’s proprietary Cyber Risk Number safeguards clients’ data by evaluating users’ cybersecurity posture and limiting access to those that meet standards, and its Third-Party Risk Management program extends the same level of scrutiny to outside providers. The company also offers security awareness training for users, along with simulated phishing exercises. Entreda won the Wealth Management Industry Award for Top Cybersecurity vendor in 2019 and 2020 and was named in the 2021 T3 Inside Information Advisor Software Survey as the market leader for cybersecurity resources. For more information, visit www.entreda.com.
Entreda was acquired by Smarsh in May 2020. Smarsh is the recognized global leader in electronic communications archiving solutions for regulated organizations. Smarsh provides innovative capture, archiving, e-discovery, and supervision solutions across the industry’s widest breadth of communication channels. For more information, visit www.smarsh.com.
Privva
Privva is an award-winning, cloud-based risk assessment platform delivering value for a diverse customer base across industries including legal, financial services, technology, healthcare, education, and media. Privva’s flexible Web platform streamlines the assessment process from authoring to automatic recurring delivery. Developed with a philosophy that risk is contextual, Privva delivers a tailored approach to assessing risk with an intuitive user interface driving a responsive user experience. Privva’s Vendor Security Assessment centralizes security questionnaires, risk ratings and scoring of responses for third parties that have access to enterprise networks or sensitive data. Privva’s workflow and templates reduce vendor assessment time by up to 75%. For more information, visit www.privva.com.
