Smarsh Buys Cybersecurity Firm Entreda

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Cybersecurity firm Entreda is being bought by information archivist Smarsh. Both fintech firms focus on the compliance needs of financial firms, which have closed many offices and now remotely operate most services due to the pandemic.

Entreda works with about 300 clients, such as Advisor Group, other broker-dealers, RIAs and wealth managers. Smarsh has a client base of roughly 6,500 firms, including KPMG, BBVA, ING and Penn Mutual.

“The proliferation of mobile devices has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and working from home …, and this opens up new cybersecurity records as well as new regulatory/compliance vectors,” said Entreda CEO Sid Yenamandra, in an interview.

As regulators watch this and related trends impact financial firms, “It’s seen as a ‘must do’ that they protect investors’ money, as well as … provide them with security and regulatory compliance,” Yenamandra said.

The merger with Smarsh means “being able to deliver more value” as such trends converge, he added.

Compliance Partnership

While Smarsh has sold its clients archiving and compliance resources since 2001, these firms also “need a cybersecurity compliance partner like Entreda,” said Stephen Marsh, Smarsh’s founder and board chairman, in a statement.

“Entreda’s Unify platform is a … cybersecurity command center, monitoring multiple mission-critical threat vectors behind a single pane of glass,” Marsh explained, adding that it’s similar to Smarsh’s Connected Archive offerings.

“Now customers can get compliance solutions for cybersecurity and electronic communications in one place,” he said.

Entreda client and independent BD Advisor Group, for instance, uses its technology as part of the CyberGuard Program. “This does all the work for [users]. They load it up when using a device, so their sessions are captured. They have an end-to-end package installed to do business in a secure fashion,” explained Smarsh CEO Brian Cramer.