Epiphany’s platform, which provides security from a Red Team perspective turns vulnerability management into actionable insights by showing exactly where and how an organization can be exploited by targeted attacks.

Today, New York City-based Epiphany Systems is formally launching with its Epiphany Intelligence Platform. Epiphany is terming this the cybersecurity industry’s first offensive context-aware platform. It improves cyber risk decision capability, by transforming vulnerability management into actionable insights on precisely where and how an organization is vulnerable to attack.  The company, which sells through channel partners, is also launching its Epiphany Channel Partner Program.

Dan Singer, who has been in the industry for almost 20 years, the first 13 at systems integrator Dyntax and and then from 2016 at MSSP DigitalWare, which he founded and where he was CEO.

“At DynTek, I built and consolidated data centres and integrated security, and I created DigitalWare to start a managed security services business that DynTek didn’t want to build,” Singer said. “There we used vulnerability management tools like Tenable and Kenna, but we weren’t satisfied with the approach behind their risk score, so we started the path to creating Epiphany. It was originally part of DigitalWare, but we spun it off in March to reduce channel conflict, and because we decided that it needed its own fuel.”

Steve Struthers, Epiphany’s EVP of Sales, who worked with Singer at DynTek, explained the uniqueness of the Epiphany Intelligence Platform.

“The way the team has developed the platform is different,” he said. “Traditionally, attack surface management platforms’ attack simulators work by starting at the outside, and iterating their way in. We built something, based on offensive work we had done for the U.S. government, that works the opposite way. We start by defining high risk prizes, and then build machine learning modules that work from the inside out, and control attack paths to the target.”

This type of technology has value to a broad range of customers.

“The product is built with low friction in terms of deployment, and deploys in an hour if you know API credentials to Active Directory,” Struthers said. “So it’s ideal for anyone in the midmarket who doesn’t have enough staff or time to build a SIEM. MSSPs will be great customers for us. We also have five or six very large clients who have us in POC. They see us more as a tool rater than a platform, to provide  visibility from a red teamer’s perspective. They use us to build simulated attack paths and identify risky situations. Most customers in our pipeline are midmarket and SLED types, with a nice cross-section of POCs, and with opportunistic deals in the large enterprise.”

Epiphany has been designed as a channel product, although some finishing touches are being placed on its capabilities for MSSPs.

“The channel has been engaged throughout the process, and we have several different types of partnerships, the most important of which right now is aggregators like CDW and SHI,” Singer said. “In partnership with them, we started with a handful of their clients, in a land and expand strategy. We are horizontal, and work in all verticals, and we have an agentless platform and a very seamless onboarding process.”

Struthers, who was responsible for the MSSP channel when he was at BlackBerry, said that the MSSP channel will be critical, but the platform for these partners is still being fine-tuned.

“The platform is multi-tenanted, but the full UI isn’t ready yet,” he indicated. “We expect to have it ready by the end of the year. MSSPs will allow us to address more downmarket customers as well.”

MSPs are also an important target, but the plan is to get to them through RMM and PSA tools that they already use.

“At BlackBerry, we found that these partners wanted to be integrated into RMMs because they didn’t want to deal with 100 different consoles,” Struthers said. “So we are targeting RMM and PSA vendors like ConnectWise and Kaseya.”

No formal agreements with any of these companies are yet in place, although that is the plan.

“Those relationships are under discussion today,” Struthers said. “Because we don’t overlap or compete with these companies, I expect we will form them. If not, we will just leverage their public APIs.”

Singer stressed that the advantages to partners through Epiphany go beyond the margin on reselling.

“There is an immediate professional services opportunity, and we are well suited to strategic projects that create drag,” he said. “Red teams use us as a tool to focus on shortening attack paths and bringing about remediation.”

The Partner Program divides partners into two groups, Named and Authorized partners. The top-tier Named partners have a dedicated partner manager, while the Authorized partners work through a pool of partner managers. The named partners also get addition benefits, including deal registration, joint marketing planning, MDF and NFR gear for internal use in labs.

Currently, Epiphany has eight partners, including CDW and SHI, and with Synnex as their distribution partner. The plan is to expand that over the next year to around 25 Named partners, and another 25 Authorized partners.

A certification program is being designed, and is scheduled to be in place shortly

“The certification program will roll out in Q3 of this year, and will be accessed through the partner portal,” Struthers said. “A partner is required to have staff certified in order to move from an Authorized partner to a Named Partner.”