Socket Acquires Coana to Enhance Code Risk Accuracy

Socket, a software supply chain security company based in San Francisco, has acquired Coana, a Danish startup specializing in reachability analysis. This move aims to enhance Socket’s security stack by leveraging Coana’s technology, which is designed to minimize alert fatigue experienced by developers and security teams.

The acquisition is particularly timely as businesses grapple with the overwhelming number of vulnerability alerts, with reports suggesting that up to 80% of these alerts may not represent real security threats. Socket’s CEO, Feross Aboukhadijeh, highlighted that Coana’s control flow and call graph analysis will help security teams more effectively distinguish between exploitable vulnerabilities and those that pose minimal risk.

Founded in 2022 and backed by $1.6 million in pre-seed funding from Sequoia Capital, Coana employs a team that brings extensive experience in static analysis. Anders Søndergaard, who leads Coana, previously worked at Lego Ventures, amplifying the startup’s credibility in the tech security field. Aboukhadijeh expressed confidence in Coana’s ability to address common shortcomings in vulnerability assessment tools, citing issues with both performance and accuracy as prevalent among existing solutions.

The integration of reachability analysis into Socket’s offerings aims to streamline security processes by reducing the time developers spend addressing false positives. This method assesses the operational context of code to identify whether vulnerabilities can realistically be exploited, thus allowing security teams to direct their resources more effectively. According to Aboukhadijeh, traditional vulnerability detection methods often do not account for structural limitations of the application, leading to inefficiencies and misallocation of engineering efforts.

As the integration progresses, Socket plans to emphasize ease of adoption by pre-analyzing open-source dependencies, enabling real-time insights as soon as clients connect their GitHub environments. This approach circumvents the need for lengthy continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, addressing one of the key barriers to deploying effective security measures.

The potential implications of this acquisition are significant for enhancing cybersecurity resilience. Socket is set to track metrics including the elimination of unnecessary alerts, effectiveness in safeguarding development operations, and the resultant time savings for technical teams. By alleviating the burden of false positives, Socket aims not only to improve security efficiency but also to foster improved collaboration between engineering and security personnel.

The acquisition of Coana also draws attention to the existing challenges within the cybersecurity landscape, particularly around adversary tactics as delineated in the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Techniques such as initial access via phishing or software vulnerabilities, persistence by maintaining footholds in systems post-exploitation, and privilege escalation could all be relevant considerations for organizations aiming to fortify their defenses against increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Looking ahead, Socket intends to make the benefits of reachability analysis available to its full customer base by the close of the second quarter of this year. This proactive approach underscores the company’s commitment to empowering organizations to navigate the complex terrain of vulnerability and threat management in an evolving digital landscape.