Autonomous network security startup Netography Inc. said today it has raised $2.6 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz as it emerges from stealth mode.

Founded last year by Barrett Lyon (pictured), a pioneer in distributed denial-of-service mitigation, and Dan Murphy, a 20-year security industry veteran, Neography is pitching itself an enterprise security “Eye in the Sky.”

Lyon’s track record with startups is remarkable. He co-founded Prolexic Inc., acquired by Akamai Technologies Inc. for $370 million in 2014, founded BitGravity which was acquired by Tata Communications; XDN, acquired by Fortinet Inc.; and Defense.net, acquired by F5 Networks Inc.

The company’s platform enables effectual autonomous network security and provides telemetry to stop threats that typically go unseen. Described as offering a seamless view of global infrastructure and cloud services, Neography leverages advanced algorithms to detect threats and automatically respond to them.

The key to what Netography is building comes down to autonomy. Although it’s not seeking to replace security professionals, some of the pitch does sound like the development of self-driving cars reducing the need for so-called “safety drivers.”

Netography’s platform, presuming it works as planned, would provide autonomous network security, harnessing an enterprise’s existing network device data to stop threats when they happen without human intervention.

“No one understands networks, how they act, the information they provide, and how to protect them better than Barrett and his team,” Martin Casado, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said in a statement. “They have been ahead of the curve in securing evolving infrastructure for the past 20 years. Now they are completely flipping the security model on its head. Netography is making network devices once only managed by people smarter and capable of self-correction.”

The company will attend the RSA Conference 2019 in San Francisco March 4-8 to offer private demonstrations of its platform.

Photo: Arnoldgibson/Wikimedia Commons