Cybersecurity startup Bricata gets Howard County loan ahead of hiring frenzy

Bricata is on the move again, but this time the company isn’t planning to switch states.
The cybersecurity startup grew from seven to 23 employees since moving to Maryland from Northern Virginia last year. The company has further plans to hire up to 30 new employees in 2017, according to Chief Operating Officer Randy Stephens.
This week, the Howard County Economic Development Authority said it was awarding Bricata a $250,000 loan. The money comes from the state’s Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) funds, which are generated by 1.5 percent revenue collected from the state’s casinos. HCEDA is set to dole out $3 million in VLT loans over the next two years.
“After spending some time with them and learning about their product it is clear to me that they have a very unique product and service offering,” said HCEDA Vice President of Strategic and Finance Initiatives Beth Woodring.
The loan come as the Columbia-based company is looking to move its offices in Howard County. A new location hasn’t been finalized. When the company initially moved to Maryland, it was based in the bwtech@UMBC incubator.

Bricata makes network security products built on the open source IPS engines Bro and Suricata. VP of Marketing Joe Charron said the company has found demand for its network security products with businesses in energy, legal and healthcare. He declined to name clients.
“Surprisingly, our growth wasn’t a result of our high-speed appliances as we thought it would be, but rather our smallest unit,” he said. “It’s ideal for deployment at remote locations, allowing large enterprises to install and manage network sensors in locations they couldn’t before, either because of cost, or because of scalability and management issues.”