SANTA CLARA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/11/13 -- WhiteHat Security, the Web security company, today announced it has been listed at No. 80 on Forbes' annual ranking of America's Most Promising Companies following its recent receipt of a $31 million strategic growth investment from JMI Equity and Investor Growth Capital (IGC). Forbes America's Most Promising Companies list is comprised of 100 privately-held, high-growth companies with bright futures. Company CEO Stephanie Fohn, was also listed as one of 11 women leading high-growth private companies.

"We are honored to be recognized by Forbes, and see this listing as validation of the continued commitment that we make to our customers every day," said Fohn. "Websites are the number one attack vector for malicious hackers, and have been for the past several years. We will continue to work diligently with our customers to ensure that their websites are secured throughout the entire software development lifecycle."

This latest recognition follows a year in which the company saw the number of customer websites it protects nearly quadruple from 3,000 to 11,000 and a customer retention rate of 95 percent. Utilizing its latest round of strategic funding, WhiteHat will look to provide stronger support for the small-to-medium-sized enterprise (SME) market as well expand its presence and partnerships internationally in 2013.

To determine the America's Most Promising Companies list, Forbes strove for a holistic gauge of young, privately-held companies, trying to pin down their trajectories by looking at a slew of variables. Over the course of six months Forbes reviewed thousands of applications. The final assessment is based on growth (both in sales and hiring), quality of management team and investors, margins, market size and key partnerships.

In addition, Forbes worked with CB Insights, a Manhattan-based data research firm that specializes in assessing private companies, to refine the search. Their MOSAIC software scans 45,000 sources to measure a company's health. A new distribution deal, for example, marks a positive signal, while the loss of an executive is a negative. MOSAIC gathers those myriad signals into a final score that Forbes uses as an initial guide in producing the list. After verifying sales numbers, speaking with each company and debating their merits and blemishes, Forbes produces a final ranking.

The full list can be viewed at: http://www.forbes.com/most-promising-companies/list/

About WhiteHat Security
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, WhiteHat Security provides end-to-end solutions for Web security. The company's cloud website vulnerability management platform and leading security engineers turn verified security intelligence into actionable insights for customers. Through a combination of core products and strategic partnerships, WhiteHat Security provides complete Web security at a scale and accuracy unmatched in the industry. WhiteHat Sentinel, the company's flagship product line, currently manages more than 11,000 websites -- including sites in the most regulated industries, such as top e-commerce, financial services and healthcare companies.

To improve your organization's Web security, sign up for a custom, no-cost 30-day security evaluation by WhiteHat Sentinel SecurityCheck at www.WhiteHatSec.com.

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