Braintrace

Braintrace was a cybersecurity firm founded in 2016 by Bret Laughlin, who served as its CEO. The company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, specialized in providing managed security services.

In July 2021, Braintrace was acquired by the global cybersecurity company Sophos. The acquisition was primarily aimed at integrating Braintrace's proprietary Network Detection and Response (NDR) technology into Sophos's ecosystem. This technology provided deep visibility into network traffic, including encrypted traffic, without the need for Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) decryption. As part of the acquisition, Braintrace's team of developers, data scientists, and security analysts joined Sophos's global Managed Threat Response (MTR) and Rapid Response teams. Bret Laughlin, the founder of Braintrace, has a background in the technology and cybersecurity industry, having also founded Orange Legal Technologies in 1996 and later Ostrich Cyber-Risk in 2021.

Braintrace's core offerings included Managed Detection and Response (MDR), Managed SIEM, SOC-as-a-Service, and incident response, operated through its 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC). The company's NDR technology utilized machine learning algorithms to identify suspicious network patterns, such as connections to command-and-control servers and lateral movement, which could indicate a breach. This capability was designed to detect threats from malware like CobaltStrike and BazaLoader, helping to preempt ransomware attacks. The services catered to a range of clients, including law firms and other organizations needing to secure remote workforces. Braintrace's business model was centered on providing these security services to enterprises, functioning as a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP).

Keywords: Network Detection and Response, NDR, Managed Detection and Response, MDR, cybersecurity, Sophos, threat hunting, network traffic analysis, incident response, managed security services, SIEM, SOC, encrypted traffic analysis, malware detection, threat intelligence, vulnerability scanning, Bret Laughlin, network monitoring, packet capture, cybersecurity acquisition