Cybersecurity validation startup Picus Security Inc. is highlighting the need for organizations to adopt more proactive security measures after closing on a $45 million round of funding today.

The Series C round was led by a new investor, Riverwood Capital, and saw participation of an existing backer from the company’s earlier rounds, Earlybird Digital East Fund. It brings Picus’ total amount raised to $80 million.

Rather than react to security breaches when they occur, Picus encourages companies to be more proactive about preventing them from happening. To that end, it provides its customers with the ability to simulate multiple real-world cyberthreat scenarios, including ransomware and malware attacks, and more advanced persistent threat variants.

All told, it offers more than 11,000 attack simulations and more than 70,000 possible mitigations for those attacks. Its platform is updated everyday to reflect the evolving nature of cyberthreats.

The startup describes its platform as an “exposure validation” offering that combines breach and attack simulations with automated penetration testing.

With its attack simulations and pen tests, companies can get a better picture of their overall level of security and prioritize any vulnerabilities they have, close critical security gaps and identify remediation opportunities.

More recently, Picus has begun offering what it calls adversarial exposure validation services, empowering security teams to correlate, prioritize and validate silos of exposure data, so they can identify exactly what kind of data has been compromised in an attack. It says this is a response to a new framework for managing cybersecurity risks in organizations, known as continuous threat and exposure management or CTEM. According to Picus, CTEM has led to some companies adopting a more offensive cybersecurity strategy that’s focused on the continuous validation of their cyber defenses.

Picus claims to be serving customers in “every major industry,” including those in highly regulated sectors such as financial services, and has already simulated more than 1 billion cyberattacks for its customers. As a result of those simulations, it has helped those customers to minimize their cyber risks and harden their defenses.

Picus co-founder and Chief Executive Alper Memis said his company’s platform represents an evolution of legacy vulnerability management practices. He added that many enterprises are “planning on implementing new exposure management technologies in the next 12-18 months”. With the new funding obtained today, he believes Picus will be able to play a key role in that evolution.

The funds will be used to accelerate Picus’ product innovation and expand its customer success, sales and marketing teams, the company said.

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