Identity Protection Leader Semperis Welcomes Former CIA Director General Petraeus to Strategic Advisory Board

Semperis, a pioneer in identity-driven cyber resilience, announced today that General David Petraeus (U.S. Army, Ret.), a Partner at KKR and former Director of the CIA, has joined the company as a strategic advisor to help bolster identity threat detection and response in the public sector. The appointment follows Semperis’ recent Series C funding round led by KKR.

As a strategic advisor to Semperis, General Petraeus will support the company as it pursues its mission to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive identity system defense, with a special focus on defending critical infrastructure for the U.S. and its allies and partners around the world.

“Cyber weapons augment and enable traditional kinetic warfare, giving a significant advantage to the side that can outmaneuver its opponents in cyberspace,” said General Petraeus. “KKR has significant experience investing in cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies, and we are delighted to have led the Series C funding round for Semperis, which we believe will play an important role in ensuring that the U.S. and our allies have the upper hand in cyberspace.”

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“Few have a first-hand understanding of the complexity and high-stakes nature of cyberwar like General Petraeus,” said Semperis CEO Mickey Bresman. “General Petraeus is a champion of cybersecurity technology innovation, and I’m thrilled to have his strategic support as Semperis continues to see rapid adoption from the public sector.”

“Semperis has a differentiated solution that focuses on securing the databases and domain services that connect users and comprise Active Directory – and are often the primary entry points for attackers. This technology is tackling the universal challenge of identity-based attacks holistically, supported by an incident response team with enormous expertise and experience,” added General Petraeus. “Given all of this, I am delighted to work with Mickey Bresman and the team at Semperis to help them dramatically increase the standards of identity system defense in the public sector.”

Identity systems such as Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and Azure AD, used in over 90% of enterprises, are under sustained attack. With Semperis’ multi-layered defense approaches for before, during, and after an attack, Semperis offers the industry’s most comprehensive security technology for hybrid AD and other identity systems, combined with deep incident response expertise.

Semperis is dedicating a significant portion of its Series C funding round to research and development to drive further innovation in the identity system defense market, focusing on its Directory Services Protector platform, which Gartner categorizes as an identity threat detection and response (ITDR) solution. Gartner included ITDR in its top cybersecurity trends for 2022, noting that credential misuse is a primary method attackers use to access systems and achieve their goals. Unique to the category, ITDR stresses the correct and secure operation of the identity infrastructure itself rather than the protection of individual users and resources managed by the infrastructure.

General Petraeus served more than 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Following retirement from the military and after Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0, he served as Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievements in the global war on terror, the establishment of important Agency digital initiatives, and significant investments in the Agency’s human capital. General Petraeus joined KKR in 2013 as the Chairman of the KKR Global Institute and was made a Partner in 2014. The Global Institute serves as an integral part of KKR’s investment process, working closely with KKR deal teams, portfolio companies, and clients to help enable smarter investing through a better understanding of the world and the evolution of geopolitical trends and security challenges. General Petraeus has also been involved in a number of KKR’s cybersecurity and digital investments, including Cylance, Darktrace and Ping Identity, and he currently sits on the boards of two KKR companies: Optiv, a global cybersecurity solutions and services provider, and OneStream, a world-leading corporate performance management software platform.

Among other industry recognitions, Semperis is in the top 10 of America’s 100 fastest-growing veteran-owned and operated businesses. Semperis is accelerating hiring across all functions globally to extend support for the company’s rapidly expanding customer base, with an emphasis on its identity-focused incident response team.