Damballa sniffs out $12M raise

Atlanta web security firm Damballa Inc. has raised $12 million as it makes inroads into the white-hot mobile and cloud computing markets.

The Georgia Tech spinoff has developed innovation that sniffs out "bot armies" - scores of computers remotely hijacked to commit fraud. Damballa is named afterwards the voodoo snake god that protects against zombies and is a play on the fact that compromised computers commandeered for fraudulent activity are referred to as "zombies."

Damballa markets to enterprise, Internet Service Providers and telco networks. Its software detects and terminates targeted attacks, botnets and advanced malware that conduct fraud, engage in industrial espionage, and steal corporate data and customer credentials. Damballa officials estimate that criminal operators control 10 percent of corporate IT assets.

As consumers do more commerce and store private data on their cellphones, more investment is being spent to protect their networks, Rahmani said.

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