Pierluigi Paganini
February 19, 2025
A cyber attack hit venture capital firm Insight Partners, threat actors gained unauthorized access to its information systems.
Venture Capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake.
Insight Partners disclosed the incident that was detected on January 16, 2025. According to the company, threat actors used a sophisticated social engineering technique to gain access to its infrastructure. The breach was detected on January 16, 2025, and the company believes the attacker was kicked out the same day.
The company notified law enforcement and is investigating the incident with the help of third-party cybersecurity experts.
“On January 16, 2025, Insight Partners detected that an unauthorized third-party accessed certain Insight information systems through a sophisticated social engineering attack.” reads a statement published by the company. “As soon as this incident was detected, we moved quickly to contain, remediate, and start an investigation within a matter of hours. We notified stakeholders connected to Insight in January to alert them and encourage vigilance and tightened security protocols irrespective of having shared data compromised. We also notified law enforcement in relevant jurisdictions.”
The company pointed out that the incident did not impact its operations, with no evidence of the threat actor’s presence after January 16, 2025. The ongoing investigation is expected to take weeks. No significant impact on portfolio companies, funds, or stakeholders is anticipated, and affected individuals will be notified as more details emerge.
At this time, no known ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack.
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