Password-security
company boosting space, tripling local staff
Keeper, which got its
start with consumers, is getting a boost from the B2B market.
Keeper Security’s move
into the corporate market appears to be paying off.
The password-security
software company is moving into larger space in Greektown and plans to triple
its headcount in Chicago, hiring 130 people here by year-end.
The company outgrew its
space at 850 W. Jackson Blvd., so it’s moving next door to 820 W. Jackson,
where it leased 16,000 square feet, with an option for another 5,000.
Keeper was founded in 2011 as a consumer product, but it’s getting a
boost from the corporate market. Headcount doubled last year, says CEO Darren
Guccione.
Keeper has
145 employees, including 60 in Chicago. The rest are in Northern
California, where its technology team is based, and Cork, Ireland.
Most of the new hires
in Chicago will be in enterprise sales. Guccione says Keeper has nearly
7,000 corporate customers, mostly small and midsize businesses.
“Keeper Security, like
many password managers, gained popularity in the consumer space and is now
jumping to the enterprise market," said Karl Sigler, threat intelligence
manager at Trustwave, a Chicago-based computer-security
company. "This makes sense because passwords are not only some of the
most sought-after pieces of data when thieves attack, weak passwords are often
the reason why a breach occurs in the first place."
The password-security
industry is heating up. SolarWinds, an IT software maker based in Austin,
Texas, recently bought Canadian password-security manger Passportal for
an undisclosed price.