The Darktrace leading to government
PC Pro|December 2024
British security firm Darktrace has been mired in controversy. Now its former CEO is a government minister. Rois Ni Thuama and Barry Collins investigate
Rois Ni Thuama and Barry Collins
The Darktrace leading to government

When the American software investment firm Thoma Bravo completed a whopping $5.3 billion takeover of Cambridge-based security firm Darktrace in October, it raised a few eyebrows.

Darktrace-co-founded by the entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who died when his yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily in August - was accused of financial irregularities, similar to those that dogged Lynch's Autonomy. Booking hardware sales as software and using resellers to inflate sales figures were only two of the allegations levelled at Darktrace (tinyurl.​com/ 363darktrace), all of which the company denied.

Then its CEO resigned in the middle of the takeover talks, only to become Keir Starmer's new investment minister a few weeks later.

Thoma Bravo will now take the company private, perhaps hoping to take Darktrace out of the spotlight.

But many questions hang over the security firm.

Out of Autonomy Darktrace was trumpeting the miraculous powers of artificial intelligence long before the current AI bubble.

Established in Cambridge in 2013, the company claimed to have "pioneered a proactive, Al-native approach to security" that "defends against unknown threats using AI that learns from your business in real-time".

The company was set up by Invoke Capital, a venture capital fund founded by Mike Lynch, using some of the proceeds from Autonomy's $11.7 billion sale to HewlettPackard two years earlier Lynch wasn't the only link between Autonomy and Darktrace. Many of Darktrace's senior management had previously worked for Autonomy (see box below), including the former CEO Poppy Gustafsson (now a government minister), chief technology officer Jack Stockdale, and chief strategy officer Nicole Eagan. In all, around 40 employees migrated from Autonomy to Darktrace, according to research conducted by investment fund ShadowFall (tinyurl.​com/363shadowfall).

This story is from the December 2024 edition of PC Pro.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the December 2024 edition of PC Pro.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM PC PROView All
Key things to look for when buying a mini PC
PC Pro

Key things to look for when buying a mini PC

Buying a mini PC isn't like buying a laptop or a fully fledged desktop PC, but a pitfall-laden experience that sits somewhere in between

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2024
BRANDS YOU CAN TRUST
PC Pro

BRANDS YOU CAN TRUST

Whenever you buy something in the coming year, why not draw on the experience of thousands of discerning buyers?

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2024
5 things we learned from Lenovo Tech World'24
PC Pro

5 things we learned from Lenovo Tech World'24

In a landmark event where the CEOs of AMD, Intel and Nvidia all took to the stage, the theme of \"smarter AI for all\" was never far away, writes Tim Danton

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2024
The Darktrace leading to government
PC Pro

The Darktrace leading to government

British security firm Darktrace has been mired in controversy. Now its former CEO is a government minister. Rois Ni Thuama and Barry Collins investigate

time-read
9 mins  |
December 2024
Microsoft is doing more harm to Arm than good, argues Jon Honeyball
PC Pro

Microsoft is doing more harm to Arm than good, argues Jon Honeyball

You know that sinking feeling you get when something is not quite right? That nagging doubt that it shouldn't be like this? It was like that when I read that Qualcomm has cancelled its Snapdragon X developer kit, a desktop Mac mini-like box designed for developers to create and test apps for Windows on Arm (WoA).

time-read
3 mins  |
December 2024
How do we know how smart AI really is?
PC Pro

How do we know how smart AI really is?

Maths questions. Silly word puzzles. Counting the letter \"r\" in a sentence. Nicole Kobie reveals how we're trying to work out exactly how intelligent AI is

time-read
7 mins  |
December 2024
Missed call Whatever happened to the Acorn Communicator?
PC Pro

Missed call Whatever happened to the Acorn Communicator?

When Acorn launched its 16-bit Communicator computer with a built-in modem, it struggled to get potential buyers to listen, as David Crookes explains

time-read
9 mins  |
December 2024
STEVE CASSIDY-"Getting workers to do simple jobs in the 16th century was not much different from the 21st"
PC Pro

STEVE CASSIDY-"Getting workers to do simple jobs in the 16th century was not much different from the 21st"

Why 16th century \"networking\" legislation still has an impact, and why the term AI is confusing to punters as well as a waste of natural resources

time-read
8 mins  |
December 2024
JON HONEYBALL -"The more I have to do with UK telcos, the more broken their systems seem to be"
PC Pro

JON HONEYBALL -"The more I have to do with UK telcos, the more broken their systems seem to be"

After being tempted by the iPhone 16 Pro Max - for professional reasons, honest - and the Watch 2 Ultra, Jon discovers not everything is perfect in Apple's new generation

time-read
10 mins  |
December 2024
Apple iPhone 16 Pro
PC Pro

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

A bigger display, borrowed 5x tetraprism zoom from the Max and no price hike make this the best iPhone

time-read
7 mins  |
December 2024