Ransomware defense that enforces known-good state at the kernel
Mimic is a Palo Alto ransomware defense company founded in 2023 and led by CEO Derek Smith, formerly CEO of Shape Security. Its platform builds a model of every authorized file, process, registry key and service on a protected system and checks each attempted change against that baseline at the kernel before it executes, aiming to stop encryption and persistence without signatures or behavioral detection; enforcement runs in a WebAssembly-based sandbox. Mimic emerged from stealth in May 2024 with a $27 million seed round led by Ballistic Ventures, with Menlo Ventures, Team8, Wing Venture Capital and Shield Capital.