Checkmarx is an enterprise
application security
Application security (short AppSec) includes all tasks that introduce a secure software development life cycle to development teams. Its final goal is to improve security practices and, through that, to find, fix and preferably prevent security is ...
company specializing in
static application security testing
Static may refer to:
Places
*Static Nunatak, in Antarctica
*Static, Kentucky and Tennessee, U.S.
*Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming, U.S.
**Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak
Science and technology Physics
*Static electricity, a n ...
(SAST) headquartered in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
in the United States.
Background
Before founding Checkmarx, Maty Siman worked in the
Mamram
Mamram (), abbreviation for Center of Computing and Information Systems ( ''Merkaz Mahshevim UMa'arahot Meida''), originally Center of Computing and Mechanized Registration ( ''Merkaz Mahshevim VeRishum Memukhan'') is the Israel Defense Forces' ce ...
unit of the
Israeli Defense Forces
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli (b ...
(IDF) and later in the
Matzov unit. Then he worked a two years term until February 2006 as an advisor at the
Prime Minister's Office.
History
Checkmarx was founded in 2006 by Maty Siman, the company's CTO, and Emmanuel Benzaquen, former CEO (2006 – 2023), and has over 900 employees.
Sandeep Johri has been the CEO since February of 2023.
In 2018, it also acquired Custodela, a company that provides software security program development as well as consulting services.
Checkmarx was acquired in April 2020 by Hellman & Friedman, a private equity firm with headquarters in San Francisco.
In August 2021, Checkmarx acquired Dustico, a software that detects backdoors and malicious attacks in the software supply chain.
Research
Checkmarx's research department is known for uncovering technical vulnerabilities in popular technologies, software, applications, and
IoT devices.
In November 2019, the company's security research team uncovered a number of vulnerabilities affecting Google and Samsung smartphones. The vulnerabilities allowed an attacker to take remote control of smartphone apps, giving them the ability to take photos, record video and conversations, and identify the phone's location. The research team submitted a report to the Android security team at Google and continued to provide feedback as the vulnerabilities were addressed.
In January 2020, Checkmarx detailed multiple security vulnerabilities with the Trifo Ironpie robot vacuum. The company has also uncovered issues with Amazon Alexa,
Meetup,
and Tinder,
among others.
In August 2022, Checkmarx researchers found vulnerabilities in the Ring Android app, which could have allowed malicious applications to be installed on the user's phone to expose personal data, geolocation, and camera recordings.
Funding
Checkmarx's early investors include
Salesforce
Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics, artificial intelligence, and ap ...
, which remains a partner as Checkmarx provides security reviews for the Salesforce AppExchange.
In 2015, U.S. private equity and venture capital firm
Insight Partners
Insight Venture Management, LLC (commonly referred to as Insight Partners and previously Insight Venture Partners) is a global venture capital and private equity firm that invests in high-growth technology, software, and internet businesses. The ...
acquired Checkmarx for $84 million.
In April 2020, private equity firm
Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) is an American private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts as well as growth capital investments. H&F has focused its efforts ...
, alongside private investment firm TPG, acquired Checkmarx for $1.15 billion.
After the acquisition, Insight Partners retained a minority interest in the company.
[{{Cite web, last=Novinson, first=Michael, date=2020-06-24, title=The Biggest 10 Cybersecurity Acquisitions Of 2020 (So Far), url=https://www.crn.com/slide-shows/security/the-biggest-10-cybersecurity-acquisitions-of-2020-so-far-/8, access-date=2020-09-04, website=CRN]
See also
*
Security testing
Security testing is a process intended to detect flaws in the security mechanisms of an information system and as such help enable it to protect data and maintain functionality as intended. Due to the logical limitations of security testing, pass ...
References
Software companies established in 2006
Software companies of Israel
Computer security software companies
Static program analysis tools
Software testing tools
Private equity portfolio companies