LANDSTAR,
INC. ANNOUNCES THAT ZACKS SMALL CAP RESEARCH
PUBLISHES ARTICLE ON DATA443, AHEAD OF FALL INITIATION
RALEIGH, NC. --
August
21, 2018 --
InvestorsHub NewsWire -- LandStar,
Inc. (OTCPK:
LDSR)
("LandStar"
or the "Company"), the parent company of Data443 Risk Mitigation, Inc.
("Data443"), a
leading data security and
privacy company, would like to share
with investors an article published by Zacks Small Cap Research on
Data443. In a rare occurrence, Zacks published the article
yesterday, ahead of initiating coverage on Data443 later this fall.
The article can be
accessed at (http://scr.zacks.com/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Details/2018/LDSR-Benefitting-from-Growing-Demand-for-Cybersecurity/default.aspx)
as
well as
in the text below:
Raleigh, North Carolina-based
Data443 Risk Mitigation, a wholly owned subsidiary of
LandStar, Inc. (LDSR), is a technology company that is
developing an ambitious portfolio of cyber-security products and
service offerings for blockchain, cyber data security, Personal
Privacy & GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), data
compliance governance capabilities. In addition to products and
services the company develops on its own, Data443 is also
conducting an aggressive M&A campaign to complement its
internally developed technologies. It has accessed the expertise of
several advisors to help conduct this strategy in a time and cost
sensitive way.
Data443 aims to provide a broad
range of data security offerings, services and solutions. 2018 has
been a transformational year, in our view, as the company has
completed two significant acquisitions, with others in the near-
and medium-term pipeline. Although Data443's ClassiDocs is
pre-revenue at this early stage, management expects that its
overall M&A pipeline will produce a combined annual revenue
run-rate of roughly $8-$10 million. Moreover, the terms of these
acquisitions are designed to both protect the company's downside
and provide incentive to the acquired management teams to help grow
the combined business, as the funding is generally a combination of
cash and shares.
The company was formed by CEO
Jason Remillard in 2017 and has accomplished much in a short time.
The CEO has more than 25 years of experience in the IT field,
developing technology solutions for both start-ups and Fortune 500
companies. His prior experience includes serving as VP of Security
Architecture at Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for Big
Data, Security Architecture, Engineering and Analytics and as a
product manager with Dell Software spearheading the development of
the Enterprise Identity and Access Management portfolio. He has
successfully operated several software security startups with
previous exits.
Towards the goal of becoming a
multi-solution IT company, Data443 acquired ClassiDocs, a data
classification, governance, and GDPR-compliance company that
Data443's CEO founded in 2016. In the 2018 Cybersecurity Excellence
awards, ClassiDocs was awarded honors for GDPR compliance, data
classification and governance. GDPR regulation mandates that
companies protect the personal data and privacy of European
citizens for transactions that occur within EU member countries.
Companies that do business in Europe will need to comply with GDPR,
which could create significant opportunities for Data443.
ClassiDocs is also capable of providing compliance to meet U.S. and
other developing privacy laws worldwide, according to
management.
ClassiDocs provides solutions for
GDPR compliance, as noted, including for reporting and technical
control capabilities. It provides Data Subject Access Requests
(DSAR) management, enabling clients to respond to DSAR demands.
According to the company, failure to comply with DSARs can lead to
penalties of up to 4% of global net sales or 20 million. ClassiDocs
also allows clients to maintain an accurate and current data
inventory across over130 database types and, importantly, leading
cloud SaaS services like Salesforce, QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamic,
Facebook and others, according to management. There are a
myriad small companies that cannot maintain internal IT
controls and need to rely on third-party solutions such as those
provided by Data443.
Recently, the company secured the
global technology, branding, and management rights to the WordPress
GDPR Framework, which is an open-source plugin that addresses the
EU's GDPR compliance requirements. WordPress is "the world's
leading web hosting and content management ecosystem," according to
management, powering more than 50% of the global content management
and e-commerce sites. Approximately 500 new WordPress sites are
constructed each day, according to the company. The company views
this relationship as a crucial step forward in its ability to reach
smaller companies that are subject to data privacy laws but do not
have a significant internal compliance resources. This is
complementary to the solutions that ClassiDocs provide. The company
has already released an upgrade to its WordPress GDPR
capability.
The company has an internal sales
team. However, to further assist with the expansion of its
footprint and sales efforts, the company also developed
associations with several partners, including N8 Identity, a cloud
identity governance provider, Caretower, a European cyber security
integrator and service provider and the
Headtechnology Group global value-added distributor,
among others. The company expects the relationship
with Headtechnology Group to accelerate the
expansion of its GDPR compliance solutions across
Headtechnology Group's network.
Importantly, the company also
expects to close its second key acquisition before the end of Q3
2018. Data443 signed a letter of intent to acquire ARALOC, a secure
digital content distribution and communication platform. The
company expects the acquisition to close by the end of September
2018. According to management, ARALOC generates existing recurring
monthly revenues, with operating income of roughly $500,000 in
2017. Moreover, management, focused on integrating and growing the
companies it has acquired, believes that combining cyber
technologies could yield synergistic cross-promotional
opportunities to a broad and growing customer base.
The company has also assembled a
strong team of strategic advisors. Specifically, Data443 appointed
industry veterans Todd Spain, Steven Mail and Philip Niedermair to
its newly formed strategic advisory board. Each of these board
members has significant experience that management believes can
help steer the company as it advances its goals. To further assist
with the execution of its strategy, the company engaged law firm
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston for advice on potential business
transactions, consulting and reflecting its expertise. Whiteford,
Taylor & Preston is one of the largest law firms in Maryland,
with more than 170 lawyers.
Working initially with the Ripple
Framework the company intends to be integral to blockchains, which
is a decentralized and encrypted ledger that offers a secure method
to store records and other information in a way that can be
verified. Each block in the blockchain contains a hash a digital
fingerprint or unique identifier and timestamped batches of prior
transactions, as well as the hash of the previous block. The hash
connects the blocks and prevents any block from being altered or
inserted between two existing blocks. Each new block reinforces the
verification of the previous block and therefore the overall
blockchain. This characteristic is also believed to make it
transparent if an attempted hacking tries to alter any part of the
blockchain. According to IBM, blockchain architecture gives
participants the ability to share a ledger that is updated, through
peer-to-peer replication, every time a transaction occurs.
Peer-to-peer replication means that each participant (node) in the
network acts as both a publisher and a subscriber. Each node can
receive or send transactions to other nodes, and the data is
synchronized across the network as it is transferred.
Blockchain is viewed as a secure
option for financial transactions that also provides flexibility
and scalability. Blockchain technology also has broader
applications beyond cryptocurrencies. Among other features, it can
be used to process transactions, manage medical records, and verify
and confirm proof of ownership. Blockchain can also record and
track intangible assets such as intellectual property, patents,
copyrights, or branding. In discussing blockchain, an article in
the Harvard Business Review notes that, "Contracts, transactions,
and the records of them are among the defining structures in our
economic, legal, and political systems. They protect assets and set
organizational boundaries. With blockchain, we can imagine a world
in which contracts are embedded in digital code and stored in
transparent, shared databases, where they are protected from
deletion, tampering, and revision."
"Blockchain is a public ledger
technology that uses digital signatures and cryptographic hashing
to provide a record of secure transactions that cannot be altered,"
according to TechRepublic. Specifically, blockchain is thought to
be safe, immutable and transparent because no single person or
party within the chain can alter the record without the agreement
of all parties in the chain. Leading companies such as IBM and
Mastercard have already adopted blockchain technology to protect
transactions and American Express has launched instant blockchain
payments for cross-border business-to-business payments.
The blockchain market is forecast
to grow to $7.683 billion by 2022, up from $241.9 million in 2016,
according to a December 2017 study by market research firm Markets
and Markets, a compound annual growth rate of 79.6%, reflecting
rising demand for blockchain and valuation of cryptocurrencies.
Increased regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency could drive demand
for cryptocurrency accounting software and services.
Cybersecurity
As enterprise and individuals
rely increasingly on digital data, the opportunities for security
breaches multiply. There are myriad examples of high-profile
cybersecurity breaches, such as the Equifax breach that impacted an
estimated upwards of 143 million consumers, as illustrated in the
figure below. Sensitive data that was stolen included Social
Security numbers and driver's license numbers, among other
metrics.
In addition, eBay, JP Morgan
Chase and Yahoo have all experienced data breaches that have
impacted billions of consumers. According to the 2017
Ponemon Cost of Data Breach study, the average cost of
a data breach globally is $3.62 million. A 2017 Verizon Data Breach
Investigations report concluded that 75% of breaches were
perpetrated by outsiders, with 62% involving hacking. The Verizon
report further found that 81% of the breaches leveraged stolen or
weak passwords and 51% included malware. While some 24% of the
companies breached were in the financial services sector, a sizable
61% of the companies were businesses that employ fewer than 1,000
people in other words many were mid-size to small
companies.
View Exhibit II
Ensuring online security is
therefore crucial for enterprise, as well as personal users,
particularly with the rising use of mobile technology. Mobile
technology penetration has grown dramatically over the past decade.
Adoption rates of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets
have tracked significantly ahead of that of other technology
platforms such as PCs or broadband. Smartphones took only eight
years to reach 20+% penetration globally and, according to
comScore, exceeded 80% of the U.S. mobile subscriber market by
2016.
With increased mobile
penetration, there has also been a growing trend towards BYOD
(bring your own device), whereby employees bring their personal
devices into the work environment for business and personal
applications. Mobile apps have become an important way that users
conduct commerce and access content both personally and
professionally. The United Nations information and communication
technologies agency, ITU, notes that over the last five years,
mobile-broadband subscriptions have grown more than 20% per annum
and reached an estimated 4.3 billion worldwide by 2017.
Control over companies' wired
networks has also become much more difficult in a BYOD work
environment and with the many technology changes, creating
challenges to maintain the benefits of mobility while concurrently
monitoring security needs. In turn, this has driven demand for
security to monitor mobile devices. At the same time, the volume of
data has increased dramatically as individuals, corporations and
government organizations access content from multiple connected
devices. IDC forecasts that by 2020 the volume of digital
information will have grown 300-fold when compared to 2005,
boosting the need for storage and content management
solutions.
The dramatic increase in content
and data being transmitted over the internet and stored in the
cloud is also placing burdens on enterprises and increasing
concerns about security. Moreover, as more data storage and IP
traffic moves to the cloud, cloud-based business analytics and
business intelligence is also expected to grow, increasing the need
for greater security, we believe. Gartner expects strong demand for
all types of cloud services offerings. Market research firm Markets
and Markets predicts that the cloud analytics market could reach
$16.52 billion this year, which represents a 25.8% 2013-2018 CAGR.
Overall, these changes have also made it that much more difficult
to ensure internet privacy.
Summary
If Data443 can execute on its
ambitious growth strategy, the company has a sizable market
opportunity, as there is growing need and demand for cybersecurity
services and solutions. That 61% of the companies that experienced
data breaches in 2017 employ fewer than 1,000 people underscores,
we believe, the opportunity that a start-up such as Data443 might
have in success. The company's founder and CEO has
significant IT experience, which the company likely can
leverage to promote and grow its technology products. As noted
earlier, there are many small and mid-sized companies that cannot
maintain internal IT controls and need to rely on third-party
solutions such as those that Data443 provides.
The company has accomplished a
lot in a short period of time, but likely is not on the radar
screen yet for most investors. If Data443 can deliver on the
revenue run rate of $8 million to $10 million and continue to grow
the company from that base, we would expect more investors to
notice and pay attention.
About
LandStar, Inc.
LandStar,
Inc. (OTCPK:
LDSR), through its wholly
owned subsidiary Data443 Risk Mitigation,
Inc., enables secure data
across local devices, network, cloud, and databases at rest and in
flight. ClassiDocs,
the company's award-winning data classification and governance
technology, provides GDPR compliance and DSAR management coupled
with DLP, CASB, SIEM, and cloud solutions to provide user-enabled,
governance-enabled, up-to-date security for every data point, every
time. The WordPress-based GDPR Framework enables organizations of
all sizes to comply with the GDPR and other privacy frameworks.
ClassiDocs for Blockchain provides an active implementation for
blockchain transactions from inadvertent disclosure and data leaks.
For more information, please visit www.data443.com.
Forward-Looking
Statements
The statements contained in this
release that are not historical facts are forward-looking
statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. Words such as "may," "will," "could," "should,"
"expect," "plan," "project," "intend," "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "predict," "potential," "pursuant," "target,"
"continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify such
forward-looking statements. The statements in this press release
that are not historical statements, including statements
regarding LandStar's plans, objectives, future
opportunities for LandStar's services, future
financial performance and operating results and any other
statements regarding LandStar's future
expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, financial conditions,
assumptions or future events or performance that are not historical
facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous
risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond
LandStar's control, which could cause actual results
to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the
statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to the operations of LandStar; results of
litigation, settlements and investigations; actions by third
parties, including governmental agencies; volatility in customer
spending; global economic conditions; ability to hire and retain
personnel; loss of, or reduction in business with, key customers;
difficulty with growth and in integrating acquisitions; product
liability; cybersecurity risk; and, anti-takeover measures in our
charter documents.
Additional
information concerning factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is
contained, from time-to-time, in LandStar's
filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission and postings on the OTC
Markets news and information website. LandStar
undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement.
Data443, ClassiDocs
ARALOC are registered trademarks of Data443 Risk Mitigation,
Inc.
All product names,
trademarks, and registered trademarks are property of their
respective owners. All company, product and service names used in
this website are for identification purposes only. Use of these
names, trademarks, and brands does not imply
endorsement.
All other trademarks cited herein are the property of
their respective owners.
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Main Press
Contact:Investor
Relations Contact:
Susan
PayneMatthew
Abenante
susan.payne@data443.comPorter LeVay &
Rose, Inc
919-526-1070 Ext
103Data443@plrinvest.com
212-564-4700