Tenable, Inc. Explained

Tenable, Inc. should not be confused with Tenable.

Tenable, Inc.
Trade Name:Tenable Holdings, Inc.
Type:Public company
Traded As:NASDAQ:
Russell 2000 Index component
Industry:Cybersecurity
Hq Location City:Columbia, Maryland
Products:Nessus
Revenue: $798 million (2023)
Net Income: -$78 million (2023)
Assets: $1.606 billion (2023)
Equity: $346 million (2023)
Owner:Amit Yoran (2.9%)
Num Employees:1,999, including 898 employees outside the U.S.
Footnotes:[1]
Nessus Vulnerability Scanner
Developer:Tenable, Inc.
Latest Release Version:8.15.8
Latest Release Date:[2]
Operating System:Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows
Genre:Vulnerability scanner
License:Proprietary
GPL (2.2.11 and earlier)

Tenable, Inc. is a cybersecurity company based in Columbia, Maryland. Its vulnerability scanner software Nessus, developed in 1998, is one of the most widely deployed vulnerability assessment solutions in the cybersecurity industry.[1] As of December 31, 2023, the company had approximately 44,000 customers, including 65% of the Fortune 500.[1]

History

Tenable was founded in September 2002 as Tenable Network Security, Inc. by Ron Gula, Jack Huffard, and Renaud Deraison.[3] In April 1998, at age 17, Deraison had created the Nessus vulnerability scanner software, which he folded into Tenable upon creation of the company. In 2002, Gula, who worked for the National Security Agency in the 1990s, sold a company he founded to Enterasys Networks and was looking to start another company. In 2004, Marcus J. Ranum was hired as chief security officer.[4] In October 2005, to generate income for the company and to stop empowering competition, Nessus became proprietary software, rather than open-source software via the GNU General Public License.[5] [6] At that time, the software was forked; OpenVAS became the open-source software version of the program.

In September 2012, Tenable received $50 million in series A round funding from Accel Partners.[7] [8] Also that month, the company entered into a partnership to provide cybersecurity services for the United States Intelligence Community, partnering with In-Q-Tel.[9] In 2015, Tenable received $250 million in a series B round led by Insight Partners.[10] In 2016, Gula resigned as CEO, becoming chairman.[11] Effective January 2017, Amit Yoran became CEO of the company[12] and later that year, the company was renamed Tenable, Inc.[1] In July 2018, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.[13]

In October 2022, the company launched Tenable One, an exposure management platform.[14] In January 2023, the company launched a venture capital division, with plans to invest up to $25 million.[15]

Acquisitions

YearCompanyPriceDescription of AssetsRef(s).
1FlawCheckUndisclosedCybersecurity company[16]
2Indegy$78 millionIsrael-based operational technology company[17]
3Alsid$98 millionSoftware for finding security issues in Active Directory deployments[18]
4Accurics$160 millioncloud-native security for DevOps and security teams[19]
5Bit Discovery$45 millionAttack surface management software startup[20]
6Ermetic$240 million in cash and $25 million in restricted stock and RSUsIsraeli cloud-native application protection startup[21]
7EurekaData security posture management[22]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tenable, Inc. 2023 Form 10-K Annual Report . . February 28, 2024.
  2. Web site: Nessus 2023 Release Notes. Tenable Network Security.
  3. News: Cybersecurity software maker Tenable CEO steps down . Narottam . Medhora . Jim . Finkle . . June 9, 2016.
  4. News: Comment: Taking the Ethical High Road . InfoSecurity . April 19, 2012.
  5. News: Nessus security tool closes its source . Renai . LeMay . . October 7, 2005.
  6. News: In Their Own Words: Tenable Network Security CEO Ron Gula . Tony . Bradley . . July 2, 2013 . limited.
  7. News: Tenable's IPO . Ping . Li . . July 26, 2018.
  8. News: Network Security Company Tenable Raises A $50M Series A From Accel . Ha . Anthony . . September 5, 2012.
  9. News: Tenable enters partnership with In-Q-Tel . Thomas . Heath . . September 23, 2012 . subscription.
  10. News: Tenable raises $250 million in record cyber funding round . Jim . Finkle . . November 10, 2015.
  11. News: Cybersecurity software maker Tenable CEO steps down . Narottam . Medhora . Jim . Finkle . . June 9, 2016.
  12. News: Tenable taps Amit Yoran as new chairman, CEO . Mark . Hoover . . December 15, 2016.
  13. News: Cybersecurity firm Tenable closes up 31% . Fazzini . Kate . . July 26, 2018.
  14. News: Tenable shifts focus, launches exposure management platform . Arielle . Waldman . . October 4, 2022.
  15. News: Tenable launches $25 million venture capital fund . Matt . Hooke . . February 17, 2023.
  16. News: Tenable Network Security Acquires FlawCheck To Boost Security In Docker Containers . MARK . HARANAS . . October 26, 2016.
  17. News: Columbia's Tenable makes $78 million acquisition . Eichensehr . Morgan . . December 2, 2019 . subscription.
  18. Tenable Completes Acquisition of Alsid and Launches Tenable.ad to Secure Active Directory Environments . . April 27, 2021.
  19. Tenable Completes Acquisition of Accurics . . October 4, 2021.
  20. Tenable Completes Acquisition of Bit Discovery and Announces Tenable.asm for External Attack Surface Management . . June 6, 2022.
  21. Tenable Completes Acquisition of Ermetic . . October 2, 2023.
  22. News: Tenable To Acquire Cloud Data Security Startup Eureka . KYLE . ALSPACH . . June 6, 2024.