Ballistic Ventures Adds Renowned Security Researchers Jaime Blasco and Marshall Heilman as Threat Intelligence Advisors

SAN FRANCISCO – January 10, 2024 – Ballistic Ventures, the venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to funding and incubating entrepreneurs and innovations in cybersecurity, today announced Nudge Security Founder and CTO Jaime Blasco and former Mandiant Global CTO Marshall Heilman joined the firm as esteemed threat intelligence advisors.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jaime and Marshall to the Ballistic Ventures team. Their understanding of the cybersecurity landscape, coupled with their remarkable track records built on years of industry experience, make them tremendous assets to our team and portfolio companies,” said Kevin Mandia, Co-founder and Strategic Partner of Ballistic Ventures, who also serves as the CEO of Mandiant. “Their passion for securing the cyber domain aligns perfectly with our vision, and we are grateful to have their support.”

Jaime Blasco is known for his security research and efforts to enable more collaborative threat-intelligence sharing. He is CTO and co-founder of Nudge Security, a Ballistic portfolio company. Using a patented, network-less approach to SaaS discovery and governance and principles of psychology, Nudge Security drives meaningful behavioral change that strengthens SaaS security postures without disrupting the pace of work. Previously, he led the threat intelligence and data science unit at AT&T Alien Labs. Prior to its acquisition by AT&T, Blasco served as Chief Scientist at AlienVault, where he researched emerging and evolving global threats to fuel the company’s threat detection and response mechanisms. As part of his work at AlienVault, he co-founded the Open Threat Exchange, the world’s largest open threat intelligence community with over 245,000 global participants.

Marshall Heilman brings over 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry as a practitioner, general manager, and senior executive leader. Heilman is now the CEO of insider risk management company DTEX Systems and is an advisor and board member for several startup and growth-stage companies. Previously, he was the Global CTO for Mandiant (now part of Google Cloud). During his 17-year tenure at Mandiant, he helped the company grow from a startup to a public company and eventually to a successful acquisition by Google. He helped lead the Consulting, Threat Intelligence, and Malware Analysis practices to become world-renowned. He also served as the general manager for Mandiant’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) business for three years, growing the offering into one of the largest pure-MDR offerings on the market. Additionally, he had responsibility for ensuring all front line threat intelligence was leveraged throughout the company. Prior to joining Mandiant, Heilman was a U.S. Marine, specializing in networking and red teaming.

In their roles as threat intelligence advisors, Blasco and Heilman will wield their extensive knowledge to influence Ballistic’s investments, guide portfolio companies in their threat intelligence research and disclosures, and advise on emerging threats and innovations to combat them. Learn more about the Ballistic team and the firm’s advisors at ballisticventures.com/team/.

About Ballistic Ventures

Ballistic Ventures is a venture capital firm solely dedicated to early-stage cybersecurity and cyber-related companies. The partners have spent their entire careers defending against every cyber threat conceivable. Members of the firm have founded, operated, and funded over 90 successful cybersecurity firms – including Abnormal Security, AlienVault, Arbitrum (Offchain Labs), ArcSight, Arkose Labs, Fortify, Interos, ISS, Mandiant, and Shape Security – led over 10,000 security professionals globally, and have 40+ years of experience in venture capital. The Ballistic portfolio includes Aembit, Alethea, ArmorCode, AuthMind, Concentric AI, Nudge Security, Pangea, Perygee, SpecterOps, Talon Cyber Security, and Veza. Our experience provides entrepreneurs impactful support from people focused on the same mission. Our networks and relationships open doors for our founders. Learn more at ballisticventures.com.

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