Cybersecurity M&A Roundup for September 1-15, 2021
Nearly two dozen cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions were announced in the first half of September 2021.
Achieve Partners acquires Metmox
Private equity firm Achieve Partners acquired managed security service provider (MSSP) Metmox with the goal of addressing the global talent shortage. As a result of the acquisition, Achieve will create a large-scale cybersecurity apprenticeship program that will prepare entry-level talent for cybersecurity careers at Metmox and its clients.
Baanx acquires stake in Maxwell State Bank
UK-based B2B2C platform Baanx announced buying a stake in US-based fintech bank Maxwell State Bank. Exact financial terms have not been disclosed, but it has been described as a multi-million-dollar deal and Baanx has become the third largest stakeholder in Maxwell. The goal of the investment is to “enhance cybersecurity and banking access to communities throughout America.”
Cybersecurity ratings company BitSight announced the acquisition of VisibleRisk, a cyber risk ratings venture created by credit ratings giant Moody’s and Israel-based cybersecurity think tank and venture creation foundry Team8. BitSight’s acquisition of VisibleRisk adds a cyber risk assessment capability and boosts its ability to analyze and calculate an organization’s financial exposure to cyber risk.
Booz Allen Hamilton acquires Tracepoint
Consulting giant and government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton bought digital forensics and incident response company Tracepoint. Booz Allen Hamilton made a strategic investment in the company in January 2021 and it has now acquired the rest of Tracepoint’s business in an effort to expand its cybersecurity capabilities. Tracepoint and Booz Allen Hamilton’s commercial cyber business will be integrated in early 2022.
Breakwater Solutions acquires Clairvoya
Information governance and data risk management firm Breakwater Solutions acquired Clairvoya, which specializes in data governance solutions. Clairvoya’s CEO will join Breakwater as COO and Clairvoya’s CTO will become Breakwater’s CTO. Breakwater says Clairvoya technology complements its own, adding data lineage for managing unstructured data in motion.
Consilio acquires Adecco Group’s legal consulting and eDiscovery business units
eDiscovery, risk management, document review and legal consulting services provider Consilio acquired the Adecco Group’s legal consulting and eDiscovery business of Special Counsel. Consilio says the acquisition of these business units will help it expand in areas such as document review, legal process outsourcing and cyber incident response.
Australia-based ICT and digital skills training firm DDLS has acquired New Zealand-based Auldhouse, which provides the same types of services, in a deal reportedly valued at roughly $17 million ($12 million). DDLS is Australia’s largest cybersecurity training provider and the acquisition will help both companies expand.
Software intelligence company Dynatrace announced the acquisition of parsing and query analytics company SpectX. Dynatrace said the deal will enable it to boost its platform’s observability and application security analytics capabilities.
Document Storage Systems acquires SBG Technology Solutions
Health information technology firm Document Storage Systems (DSS) acquired SBG Technology Solutions, a provider of IT services and solutions, including cybersecurity and governance solutions. SBG will operate as a subsidiary of DSS and they will help each other enhance their capabilities.
Professional services giant EY, specifically EY Australia, has acquired Australia-based MSSP SecureWorx in an effort to provide security operations center (SOC) services powered by Microsoft technologies.
Network security company FireMon acquired DisruptOps, which specializes in cloud security operations. FireMon said the acquisition will enable it to expand its solution to include security risk monitoring and response in cloud infrastructure. DisruptOps was founded by Jody Brazil, who also founded FireMon. As a result of the acquisition, Brazil will become CEO of the combined entity.
Software development company JFrog has acquired Upswift, a device management platform for connected products. The resulting platform will provide a wide range of capabilities, including several related to application development security.
Kape Technologies acquires ExpressVPN
Consumer cybersecurity firm Kape Technologies announced acquiring VPN service ExpressVPN for $936 million. Kape said the acquisition will help it create a “premium digital privacy and security player” and expand its customer base. The deal should also help Kape in terms of sales, cost savings, and product distribution.
Denmark-based SIEM solutions provider LogPoint is buying Israel-based threat detection and response firm SecBI in an effort to expand its XDR and SOAR capabilities. SecBI will become LogPoint Israel and it will remain in Tel Aviv.
Mastercard acquires CipherTrace
Payments giant Mastercard is acquiring cryptocurrency intelligence and blockchain analytics company CipherTrace. Mastercard said its goal is to ensure that the digital asset ecosystem is trusted and safe, which it hopes to achieve by combining its own capabilities with those of CipherTrace.
Millennia Technologies merges with Fusion IT
Enterprise communications company Millennia Technologies is merging with Fusion IT, a cybersecurity firm and MSSP. The companies believe the merger will help them expand their offerings and their customer base.
Nexon Asia Pacific acquires Veridian Solutions
Managed IT services provider Nexon Asia Pacific announced buying Veridian Solutions, which provides contact center, cloud and security services. Both companies are based in Australia. Nexon said Veridian’s contact center and unified communications offering complement its own, and Veridian’s dedicated cybersecurity practice complements its MSSP offering.
Critical infrastructure protection company OPSWAT acquired Israel-based malware analysis sandbox solution SNDBOX. SNDBOX will be integrated into OPSWAT’s Malware Analysis Solution offering, but will also be offered as a separate product. SNDBOX will help increase the accuracy of malware detection in IT and OT environments and reduce the cost of malware processing.
Network, cloud, workspace and cybersecurity solutions provider Orro acquired MSSP eSecure in an effort to strengthen its cybersecurity offering. Both companies are based in Australia. Orro’s security business will be expanded with detection and response, assurance testing, vulnerability management and incident response services.
Solvinity acquires majority stake in Securify
MSP Solvinity has acquired a majority stake in Securify, which specializes in application security and penetration testing. Both companies are based in the Netherlands. The acquisition will enable Solvinity to expand its cybersecurity offering. Securify will continue to operate as an independent company under Solvinity.
Attack surface management pioneer Tenable is acquiring Accurics, an early-stage startup selling cloud-native security for DevOps and security teams, for $160 million in cash. The acquisition will help Tenable expand its product portfolio.
Consumer credit reporting agency TransUnion acquires risk, communications, security and marketing solutions provider Neustar for $3.1 billion. TransUnion said Neustar’s data and analytics technology will help it expand its digital identity capabilities, including fraud detection and prevention.
Related: Cybersecurity M&A Roundup: 42 Deals Announced in August 2021
Related: Cybersecurity M&A Roundup: 38 Deals Announced in July 2021
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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