Company

ABOUT ESENTIRE

eSentire is The Authority in Managed Detection and Response Services, protecting the critical data and applications of 2000+ organizations in 80+ countries from known and unknown cyber threats. Founded in 2001, the company’s mission is to hunt, investigate and stop cyber threats before they become business disrupting events.

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EVENT CALENDAR

May

May TRU Intelligence Briefing

May

Elevate IT Technology Summit Kansas City

May

Cybersecurity Summit Toronto

May

Cybersec Brussels

May

Cybersecurity Summit Austin

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LATEST PRESS RELEASE

Mar 06, 2025

eSentire Unleashes AI-Driven Atlas Nexus Network, Empowering Cybersecurity Partners to Build Differentiated Security Services at Scale

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OUR PARTNERSHIPS

Aston Villa Football Club

AVFC takes its cyber protection to the Next Level with eSentire as its official cybersecurity partner.

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Partners

PARTNER PROGRAM

We provide sophisticated cybersecurity solutions for Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and Value-Added Resellers (VARs). Find out why you should partner with eSentire, the Authority in Managed Detection and Response, today.

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Apply to become an e3 ecosystem partner with eSentire today.

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Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies need cybersecurity expertise to proactively detect, disrupt and remediate cyber threats before they become business disrupting events.

Cyberattackers recognize that portfolio companies are easy targets because they are growth-focused and are often secured with lean, less mature cyber operations. Private equity firms also have detailed disclosure requirements to abide by, making it easy for attackers to find these valuable targets.

Sophisticated attackers perform complex reconnaissance on private equity firms and their portfolio companies in order to obtain stolen/hijacked/poorly secured firm documents and harvest key employee credentials. They understand operational details, the names of key employees, and once they are embedded, they can hijack relationships, intercept emails, and even initiate wire transfers to steal millions of dollars.

Adding to the challenge, CIOs at private equity firms are hampered by a lack of visibility into all their portfolio firms as well as a lack of control. Defensive tools across their portfolio companies are almost always inconsistent.

Breaches can and will impact deal execution, deal value, integration, and put reputations and future deals at risk. In fact, the public nature of private equity work paints a target on both the buyer and seller.

How eSentire Managed Detection and Response Can Help

eSentire is recognized globally as the Authority in Managed Detection and Response because we hunt, investigate and stop known and unknown cyber threats before they become business disrupting events. We were founded in 2001 to secure the environments of the world’s most targeted industry - financial services. We proudly protect over 100 Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies. With over $7T in AUM, we are the most trusted security company that protects private equity portfolio companies at scale.

We have demonstrated success working with private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Through our experience, we’ve developed a leading framework for firms to address the most common concerns and risks security leaders face:

Lack of confidence in the integrity of all portfolio companies’ security postures
New acquisitions come with surprises that can negatively impact deal value and lead to potential vulnerabilities
The need to bridge the gap from startup business bootstrap mindset to portfolio company
The lack of a uniform foundation and uniform exit documentation
The need for a reliable way to track and rank risk across portfolio
They require enterprise protection at a cost-effective price

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Private Equity Threat Intelligence Report

Cracking the Vault: Why Hackers Target Private Equity Firm Portfolio Companies and How to Defend Against Modern Cyberattacks

PE firms excel at managing financial risks but often underestimate cyber risks. As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, PE firms their portfolio companies are prime targets. Threat actors target PE firms and portfolio companies because of their vast sensitive data, including personal information, intellectual property, and confidential M&A data.

In this new research from eSentire’s Threat Response Unit (TRU), we share:

Why PE are being targeted and how they are vulnerable
The most common cyberattack vectors impacting PE firms and portfolio companies
Recommendations on how to strengthen your cyber defenses

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How eSentire Protects Private Equity Firms

Risk Illumination And Mitigation Throughout The Entire Investment Lifecycle

Falling Victim to Ransomware Attacks

Operational Disruption

The Need for Cost-Effective Security Services that Provide Consistency and Visibility Across Portfolio Companies

KEY INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

Risk Illumination And Mitigation Throughout The Entire Investment Lifecycle

HOW ESENTIRE MANAGED DETECTION & RESPONSE HELPS

Our 24/7 Elite Threat Hunters and SOC Cyber Analysts actively hunt for threats across your environment. We detect intrusions and contain attacks before data can be exfiltrated.
M&A Assessment service available as part of our Continuous Threat Exposure Management services offering with rapid eDiscovery investigation capability through eSentire's Atlas XDR Investigator.

KEY INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

Falling Victim to Ransomware Attacks

HOW ESENTIRE MANAGED DETECTION & RESPONSE HELPS

We monitor your attack surface 24/7 to discover intrusion attempts, preventing the pervasive deployment of malware and ransomware.

We support multi-signal coverage ensuring visibility across endpoint, network, log, cloud, and other data sources for deep investigation and response capabilities.
We offer endpoint protection to prevent your defenses from being disabled.

KEY INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

Operational Disruption

HOW ESENTIRE MANAGED DETECTION & RESPONSE HELPS

We detect and contain suspicious activity through remote access tools and stop intrusions before they can deploy malware in critical systems that lead to massive outages throughout your environment.

KEY INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

The Need for Cost-Effective Security Services that Provide Consistency and Visibility Across Portfolio Companies

HOW ESENTIRE MANAGED DETECTION & RESPONSE HELPS

We provide customized Continuous Threat Exposure Management, MDR and Incident Response services that can be packaged and adopted by Private Equity firms’ entire portfolios, driving consistency and measurable cyber KPIs.

Our program delivers rapid time to value with onboarding in days vs weeks or months, and provides scalable multi-signal 24/7 coverage across the complete attack surface.

Private Equity Cybersecurity FAQ

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Private Equity Cybersecurity FAQ

What is a private equity cybersecurity program?

A private equity cybersecurity program should protect private equity firms and their portfolio companies from business disruption cyberattacks, addressing the following key challenges:

Risk illumination and mitigation throughout the entire investment lifecycle
Ransomware attacks
Operation disruption
The need for cost-effective security services that provide consistency and visibility across portfolio companies

Why is cybersecurity for private equity important?

Cloud adoption, business applications, and remote users are expanding, and you’re trying to scale and invest in companies, which makes it difficult for your team to keep up with your growing attack surface and cyber risks. Cybercriminals recognize that portfolio companies are easy targets because they are growth-focused and often have lean, less mature cybersecurity operations.

Additionally, you are likely hampered by your lack of visibility and control over your portfolio companies. Therefore, you need a private equity cybersecurity program that protects your entire portfolio from business disrupting cyberattacks.

What are the SEC cybersecurity requirements for RIAs and investment companies?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new Cybersecurity Risk Management rules for investment companies, RIAs, and Business Development companies. They require all RIAs and investment companies to adopt policies and procedures to better address their cyber risks, enable 24/7 threat detection and response capabilities, and disclose material cybersecurity incidents in a timely manner.

Download the SEC checklist to learn about the proposed rule that the SEC released for RIAs and investment companies and pragmatic cybersecurity recommendations your team should adopt to improve your overall cybersecurity posture.

How does eSentire protect private equity firms?

eSentire helps defend your firm with a robust private equity cybersecurity strategy, and develops a custom security offering for your entire portfolio with a combination of:

Our Managed Detection and Response services and Continuous Threat Exposure Management services are customized for our private equity customers and specific to their portfolio companies.

eSentire Private Equity Industry Cybersecurity Services

At eSentire, we go beyond the market’s capability in threat response. eSentire’s multi-signal MDR approach ingests endpoint, network, log, cloud, asset and vulnerability data that enables complete attack surface visibility. Enriched detections from the eSentire Threat Response Unit are applied to captured data identifying known & unknown threats including suspicious activity and zero-day attacks. With two 24/7 Security Operations Centers staffed with cyber experts and Elite Threat Hunters, an industry-leading XDR Cloud Platform, and refined security operations processes, eSentire can detect and respond to cyber threats with a Mean Time to Contain of 15 minutes.

Managed Detection & Response

We deliver Response + Remediation you can trust. By combining our cutting-edge XDR platform, 24/7 SOC support, around the clock threat hunting and security operations leadership, we hunt and stop known & unknown threats before they disrupt your business.

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Continuous Threat Exposure Management

Strategic services including Managed Vulnerability Assessments, vCISO, and Managed Phishing & Security Awareness Training to identify gaps, build defensive strategies, operationalize risk mitigation and continuously advance your security program.

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Digital Forensics and Incident Response

Stop attackers in their tracks with our unlimited incident response with threat suppression guarantee. eSentire Digital Forensics and Incident Response services are available as IR Readiness, Incident Response Retainer or Emergency Incident Response Services.

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The Cost of Ransomware Attacks for Firms is Growing

We’ve worked with numerous private equity firms for incident response after ransomware attacks on portfolio companies have taken out their backups, encrypted the data on their server environments, taken their businesses offline for days or weeks, and cost them millions of dollars. The following case studies capture the immediate operational and financial impacts ransomware attacks inflicted on these portfolio companies. Beyond that, these attacks also caused indirect damage to the private equity backers due to profitability and investment losses.

Customer Case Study #1

Attackers breached the portfolio company network and back up devices, using Mimikatz to obtain login and password information to move laterally in the environment unrestricted for 6 weeks.
Ransomware took down all back-ups, wiped out PC environments, and encrypted all company servers and computers using PowerShell commands.
The portfolio company was down for 7 days with no access to data, systems, emails or phones.
After completing Incident Response, PE firm engaged eSentire.

Total Cost: $2,000,000

Customer Case Study #2

Trickbot malware harvested credentials at the portfolio company and encrypted the main ERP database servers.
Despite having antivirus, network and endpoint protections in place with different vendors, lack of security best practices allowed the attack to go undetected.
The portfolio company was completely down for 7 days, suffered an additional attack mid-recovery, and had to scan and reimage over 1200 computers, and change every single password across all systems company wide.
After completing Incident, PE firm engaged eSentire.

Total Cost: $1,000,000

Why Our Private Equity Customers Choose eSentire

Thomas H. Lee Partners

Industry: Private Equity

35+ Portfolio Companies Protected

THL is a private equity firm, with headquarters in North America, that invests in middle market growth companies across the Financial Technology & Services, Healthcare, and Technology & Business Solutions industries.

eSentire from day 1 is part of our playbook to help ensure that we can manage our risk, understand where vulnerabilities exist, close those gaps, and they continue to mature month over month, as the world changes. The only way we can sleep at night is to have a partner like eSentire at our side.

Mark Benaquista

Managing Director, Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL)

Customer Challenges

As a private equity firm, THL inevitably becomes a target whenever news about their investments or exits surface. Threat actors exploit this attention, researching and targeting their investments with the understanding that they are covered by cyber insurance.

THL was challenged with a lack of in-house expertise, resources, and tools for 24/7 threat detection and response. They had limited access to best-in-class tools to show where cyber risks exist, how they’re being managed and areas for improvement. THL wanted an MDR provider that could provide a holistic view of the threat landscape impacting their portfolio companies. They also wanted to be able to identify risks, protect assets, provide phishing and security awareness training, and build a mature security operation.

eSentire Services Implemented

Security Outcomes Delivered

eSentire Multi-Signal MDR monitors and disrupts threats 24/7 targeting their assets and portfolio companies. Our services alleviate internal resource constraints, provides access to top cybersecurity talent, and provides cutting-edge threat intelligence to keep THL ahead of cyber threats and business disruption so that their leaders can focus on growth and generating revenue. We also provide trusted guidance prior to investing in a new portfolio company to analyze their security measures and rapidly deploy eSentire MDR. This helps reduce risk by ensuring complete visibility and a consistent security posture across their portfolio.

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ESENTIRE SERVICES

Managed Detection and Response

All-In-One MDR Solution →

MDR for Microsoft →

MDR for GenAI →

Digital Forensics and Incident Response

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

PLATFORM, PEOPLE AND RESPONSE

Security Operations Center (SOC)

Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Technology Integrations

Threat Response Unit (TRU)

Cyber Resilience Team

Response and Remediation

MDR Packages and 24/7 Protection

MDR Pricing and Packages

Atlas Essentials

Atlas Advanced

Atlas Complete

24/7 Coverage

Endpoint

Network

Log

Cloud

Identity

INDUSTRIES

Insurance

Construction

Finance

Legal

Manufacturing

Private Equity

Healthcare

Retail

Food Supply

Government and Education

Automotive Dealerships

USE CASES

Ransomware

Cybersecurity Compliance

Zero Day Attacks

Cloud Misconfiguration

Third-Party Risk

Do More With Less

Cyber Risk

Cyber Insurance

Sensitive Data Security

Security Leadership

Cyber Threat Intelligence

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Resources

Case Studies

TRU Intelligence Center

Cybersecurity Tools

Videos

Reports

Webinars

Data Sheets

Real vs. Fake MDR

Compare MDR Vendors

Blogs

Security Advisories

SECURITY ADVISORIES

Maximum Severity SAP Vulnerability Exploited

CrushFTP Authentication Bypass

ABOUT ESENTIRE

About Us →

Leadership →

Careers →

Event Calendar →

Newsroom →

Aston Villa Football Club →

EVENT CALENDAR

May TRU Intelligence Briefing

Elevate IT Technology Summit Kansas City

Cybersecurity Summit Toronto

Cybersec Brussels

Extended Detection and
Response (XDR)

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