NSS Labs Shuttered

guest · Oct 20, 2020

NSS Labs Shuttered
The testing firm's website says it has "ceased operations" as of Oct. 15
October 19, 2020
https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities---threats/nss-labs-shuttered/d/d-id/1339220

Security testing firm NSS Labs has halted operations, according to a post on its website that states:
"Due to Covid-related impacts, NSS Labs ceased operations on October 15th."

Word of layoffs and possible folding of NSS Labs had emerged behind the scenes late last week, and efforts to reach the company and its private equity firm to confirm the details of its status were unsuccessful. Jason Brvenik, CEO of NSS Labs, said in a LinkedIn post today the company had ceased operations.
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NSS Labs in October of 2019 was quietly acquired by private equity firm Consecutive Inc. for an undisclosed figure in a move that was not publicly announced by the companies but which they later confirmed.
NSS Labs had been under pressure from investors to sell a security-as-a-service threat intelligence offering for exploits, but the now-defunct Cyber Advanced Warning System (CAWS) service failed to gather steam among enterprises.
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Earlier this year, NSS Labs launched both a new ratings system for endpoint security product testing for that product category, and a new consumer-focused nonprofit testing organization for security and Internet of Things products.
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itman · Oct 21, 2020

The COVID-19 bit was probably "the straw that broke the camel's back" for them.

Their AV vendor test reports are very expensive and corps. have clamped down on discretionary spending like that. The beginning of the end for them was when they tangled with the major AV vendors and all the publicity from that. Prior to this was their testing shenanigans with Cylance.

I also suspect that their CAWS real-time monitoring platform never caught on because like everything they offered service-wise, it was not realistic priced.

EASTER · Oct 21, 2020

itman said: ↑

The COVID-19 bit was probably "the straw that broke the camel's back" for them.

Their AV vendor test reports are very expensive and corps. have clamped down on discretionary spending like that. The beginning of the end for them was when they tangled with the major AV vendors and all the publicity from that. Prior to this was their testing shenanigans with Cylance.

I also suspect that their CAWS real-time monitoring platform never caught on because like everything they offered service-wise, it was not realistic priced.
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Those assessments unfortunately are spot-on. And down the drain goes this testing lab.

Earlier this year, NSS Labs launched both a new ratings system for endpoint security product testing for that product category, and a new consumer-focused nonprofit testing organization for security and Internet of Things products.
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guest · Nov 5, 2020

NSS Labs' Abrupt Shutdown Leaves Many Unanswered Questions
Former execs and employees share some insights into the testing firm's shutdown.
What does it mean for the future of security product testing?
November 5, 2020
https://www.darkreading.com/risk/ns...aves-many-unanswered-questions/d/d-id/1339380

When NSS Labs CEO Jason Brvenik gathered employees on a conference call the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 15, the news he delivered came as a complete shock: The security product testing firm would be going out of business that very day. No severance packages for employees, and the engineers who had recently been hired by NSS Labs were now suddenly out of a job.

Former employees who spoke to Dark Reading on the condition of anonymity say the sudden announcement came with few details, and several executives at the firm were also blindsided by the news. NSS Labs had been quietly acquired by private equity firm Consecutive Inc. in the fall of 2019 amid signs of financial struggle, layoffs, and restructuring.
Efforts to reach Brvenik, several members of the NSS Labs executive team, and Consecutive's partners for this article were unsuccessful.
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NSS Labs founder Bob Walder, who sold the company to Phatak in 2007, says he doesn't believe the pandemic was the main cause of NSS Labs' demise. "That sudden shutdown is really weird," he says.
Security product testing can be performed remotely, he points out, so the work-from-home shift in the pandemic should not have significantly impeded the company's operations.
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Enter MITRE ATT&CK
There's no silver bullet for security product testing, experts say. But MITRE's endpoint security testing service based on its ATT&CK matrix so far has many experts — and vendors — feeling hopeful that there is a way to conduct some tests in an open and fair way.

"MITRE will dominate the testing efficacy space going forward. This will be beneficial to the cybersecurity industry," says Tom Kellermann, head of cybersecurity strategy for VMware Carbon Black.
But MITRE's service, now under the auspices of MITRE Engenuity, isn't like other traditional endpoint testing, which mostly focuses on detecting malware. [...]

Meanwhile, Phatak says he believes there is still a need for another NSS Labs-type company to offer testing services. "I think there's an opportunity," he says. "The key is [getting] the trust of enterprises. A business model needs to focus on serving their needs."
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bellgamin · Nov 5, 2020

I doubt it was arbitrary. IMO Mr. Brvenik was, himself, blindsided by (to us) undisclosed events, to the extent that he lacked meaningful options. It is a sad story -- all too often being repeated nowadays, with different scripts, perhaps.

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