Ex-NSA Agents' Start-Up Locks in $8m in Funding

More money keeps going into cybersecurity start-ups. The start-up Area 1 Security, which was founded by three ex-NSA employees, received an $8 million round of funding on Wednesday. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the Series A funding round for the company. The Menlo Park, California, based start-up, which was started last year, aims to stop cyberthreats caused by phishing campaigns. The firm's founders are Oren Falkowitz, Blake Darche and Phil Syme. As data breaches and cyberattacks continue to rise, there's been an uptick in money pouring into the space. During the past five years $5.2 billion has been invested in cybersecurity companies across 807 deals, according to data published in September from CB Insights, a firm that tracks venture and private equity investments. Corporate ventures have taken a particular interest and have increasingly invested in security start-ups. Funding for cybersecurity companies that included corporate participation has increased 29 percent this year over last year, according to CB Insights. Two of the biggest corporate ventures investing in the space are Intel and Google.

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--- Cadie Thompson, CNBC