06 Apr Cybersecurity M&A Report, Vol. 1, No. 1: Acquisition Activity Brisk During First Quarter Of 2017
Dozens of cybersecurity acquisition deals were cut during this year’s first quarter capped by Cisco’s buy of AppDynamics for $3.7 billion and Intel’s purchase of Mobileye for $15.3 billion.
CA Technologies was also in buying mode and scooped up Veracode for $614 million.
In addition, both Palo Alto Networks and Sophos opened their war chests to expand their reach.
Palo Alto paid $105 million in cash for LightCyber, a company developing solutions in the hot security area of behavioral analytics.
Sophos, too, invested in an area attracting heated interest in the security field — machine learning and artificial intelligence — with a buy of Invincea for $100 million.
User analytics also appears to have some appeal to Amazon Web Services, which reportedly picked up Harvest.ai for $19 million.
Meanwhile, IBM took a step toward improving the visualization capacities of its security products with the purchase of Agile 3 Solutions for an undisclosed sum.
March
Mar. 29. Mastercard acquires NuData Security, an online and mobile fraud-prevention company. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Mar. 27. Orion, a global IT services company, acquires Structured Network Solutions, a provider of technology integration services, including VPN and remote access solutions. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Mar. 24. GoDaddy agrees to acquire Sucuri, a website security provider. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Mar. 22. Cisco acquires AppDynamics, an application and business monitoring company, for approximately $3.7 billion in cash and assumed equity awards.
Mar. 22. SunBlock Systems, a digital forensics and business intelligence company, announces merger with Marquet International, a corporate investigations firm.
Mar. 21. 4Sec Group, a channel group of companies with a focus on cybersecurity compliance and cloud-based technologies, acquires Alpha Generation Distribution, an IT security distributor. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Mar. 20. Accume Partners, a provider of audit, technology, compliance, enterprise risk and cybersecurity services primarily to the banking and financial services industry, acquires Aporia Solutions, a provider of technology and information system auditing and cybersecurity services. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Mar. 13. Intel acquires Mobileye, a maker of sensors and cameras for driverless vehicles, for $15.3 billion.
Mar. 10. Comcast acquires the Converge business of Icontrol Networks. Converge is a creator of IoT and connected home security solutions. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Mar. 7. CA Technologies announces intention to acquire application security vendor Veracode for $614 million.
Mar. 3. MGT Capital Investments, whose executive chairman is John McAfee, acquires 46 percent equity interest in Demonsaw, a secure, anonymous, free, and decentralized cross-platform information-sharing application with end-to-end encryption without a client app. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Mar. 1. Salient CRGT, a provider of agile software development, data analytics, mobility, cybersecurity and infrastructure solutions, acquires Information Innovators, which delivers IT solutions and services to the federal government. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
February
Feb. 28. Palo Alto Networks acquires LightCyber, a behavioral analytics company, for $105 million in cash.
Feb. 19. Apple reportedly acquires RealFace, an Israeli facial recognition company that makes smart biometric login softwar3e for mobile devices, for $2 million.
Feb. 9. Accenture enters into agreement to acquire the iDefense Security Intelligence Services business from VeriSign. iDefense is a provider of cyber intelligence related to vulnerabilities, malicious code and global threats to organizations. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Feb. 8. Accenture announces agreement to acquire federal government services business of Endgame, a privately held endpoint detection and response cybersecurity software company. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Feb. 8. Sophos, a cybersecurity solutions company, agrees to acquire Invincea, a provider of machine-learning threat detection software, for $100 million in cash and an earn-out of $20 million.
Feb. 8. Forcepoint, which focuses on insider threats, acquires Skyfence cloud security business from Imperva. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Feb. 7. Malwarebytes, a maker of malware prevention and remediation software, acquires Saferbytes, a security start-up that builds technologies with anti-malware, anti-exploit, anti-rootkit, cloud AV and sandbox capabilities. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Feb. 7. WISeKey International Holding, a cyberseurity and IoT company announces intent to acquire 85 percent equity position in QV Holdings, a provider of managed public key infrastructure, certification authority and electronic signature services. Upon completion of the transaction, WISeKey will pay to QV selling equity holders a cash consideration of $13 million plus 1.11 million newly issued WIHN Class B Shares issued from existing authorized capital, subject to a lock-up period of 3 months, as well as pay $2 million in QV debt.
Feb. 6. UKFast, a website hosting company, acquires Secure Information Assurance, which provides secure cloud hosting and cybersecurity services to the UK’s ministry of defense and other government agencies and offices. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Feb. 6. StackPath, a cloud security services provider, acquires Highwinds, a content delivery network. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Feb. 1. Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquires Niara, a user and entity behavior analytics security company. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Feb. 1. KKR, a global investment company, acquires a majority stake in Optiv Security, a provider of end-to-end cybersecurity solutions. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
January
Jan. 31. Radware, a provider of cybersecurity and application delivery solutions, acquires Seculert, a deliverer of cloud-based protection against network breaches and data exfiltration. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 24. Solera Holdings, a provider of data and software for automotive, home ownership and personal identity management, acquires Digidentity, an online identity security and authentication company. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 23. IBM Security acquires Agile 3 Solutions, maker of software to visualize, understand and manage risks associated with protecting sensitive data. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 17. The Kudelski Group acquires M&S Technologies , a provider of network and cyber security solutions, and added it to the group’s Kudelski Security division. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 17. Bitdefender, a security software maker, acquires Profit Technology to expand its position in the French enterprise market. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 17. Auxilio, a provider of document workflow solutions and IT security services, acquires CynergisTek, a cybersecurity and privacy consulting firm, in a deal valued at up to $34.3 million.
Jan. 16. Cybersecurity Ventures acquires domain name Cyberwarfare.com from a private seller. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 9. LLR Partners acquires BluVector, a machine learning threat detection and cyber hunting solution, from Northrop Grumman Corporation and commits $50 million to BluVector, which will operate as a standalone business, to support the acquisition and the company’s future growth plans.
Jan. 9. TechCrunch reports Amazon Web Services has acquired Harvest.ai, a user behavior analytics company founded by two former NSA employees, for $19 million.
Jan. 9. Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity, which is part of Rohde & Schwarz electronics group, a supplier of solutions in the fields of test and measurement, broadcasting, secure communications and radiomonitoring and radiolocation, acquires DenyAll, a provider of cloud services and appliances for simplifying security during the development process. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 5. Belcan, a global supplier of engineering, technical recruiting and IT services supporting the aerospace, industrial and government services markets, acquires The Kemtah Group, a supplier of IT support services, including cybersecurity services. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed..
Jan. 4. Solera Holdings, a data and software provider for the automotive, home identity management markets, acquires Autodata, an information provider for the auto industry.
Jan. 3. MacAulay-Brown, an engineering, cybersecurity and product solutions company serving the defense, intelligence and homeland security markets, acquires Enlighten IT Consulting, developer of a platform to combat cyberattacks against government agencies. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 3. VOR Technology, a solutions provider to the U.S. intelligence community, acquires Sintel Group, a deliverer of intelligence analysis services and offensive cyber offerings to the federal government. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jan. 3. Sirius Computer Solutions, an IT integrator, acquires Continuum Worldwide Corporation, an information security company which specializes in compliance, governance, digital forensics and incident response. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
John P. Mello, Jr. is a freelance writer specializing in business and technology subjects, including consumer electronics, business computing and cyber security.
