Cybersecurity Acquisitions in 2018

Forescout Technologies has acquired Dutch OT cybersecurity firm SecurityMatters to expand its device visibility and industrial/OT security capabilities. The deal (reported at about $113 million) strengthens Forescout’s offering for securing converged IT/OT environments and extends its footprint in industrial end markets.

HighBar Partners has acquired SS8 Networks, a provider of lawful intercept, network intelligence and breach-detection solutions, to fund the company’s next phase of growth. The investment is intended to accelerate SS8’s product innovation and expand its reach with communications service providers, law enforcement agencies and enterprise customers as network technologies transition to 5G and beyond.

EZShield, a portfolio company of The Wicks Group, has acquired IdentityForce, a leading identity theft protection provider for consumers, businesses and government agencies. The add-on expands EZShield's identity protection ecosystem—adding IdentityForce's monitoring, mobile app and restoration capabilities—and positions the combined business for further organic growth and additional acquisitions in the identity/cybersecurity space.

FireMon has agreed to acquire Lumeta Corporation, integrating Lumeta’s real-time cyber situational awareness and network-discovery technology into the FireMon platform. The acquisition aims to extend FireMon’s intent-based security capabilities to previously unknown on‑premise and cloud assets, improving visibility and reducing enterprise attack surface.

Utimaco announced it will acquire the Atalla hardware security module (HSM) and Enterprise Secure Key Manager (ESKM) business lines from Micro Focus to strengthen its HSM product portfolio and expand into the payments market. The transaction — announced May 18, 2018 — is subject to customary regulatory approvals and was expected to close in fall 2018; Utimaco said it will retain and invest in the Atalla team at its California location.

RSA, the cybersecurity division of Dell Technologies, has agreed to acquire Israel-based behavior analytics startup Fortscale Security. The deal will integrate Fortscale's UEBA capabilities into RSA's NetWitness offering; terms were not disclosed and Fortscale's roughly 30 employees will transfer to RSA's R&D center in Israel.

Zix Corporation has acquired Seattle-based Erado, a provider of unified archiving, supervision, eDiscovery and analytics, to expand Zix’s cloud-based archiving, compliance and messaging solutions—particularly for regulated financial services customers. Erado serves more than 18,000 customers and the acquisition is expected to add approximately $1.5 million in subscription revenue in 2018 while enabling broader compliance and multi-channel archiving capabilities for Zix’s customer base.

Battery Ventures has acquired Plixer, a provider of network traffic analytics and security incident response software, in a transaction that will provide growth capital and operational support to scale the business. Jeff Lindholm has joined Plixer as CEO, Russell Fleischer of Battery will join the board, and founders Mike Patterson and Marc Bilodeau will remain involved in the leadership team.

PhishMe (now Cofense), a Leesburg, Virginia-based provider of human-driven phishing defense solutions, was acquired in February 2018 by a private equity consortium led by BlackRock and Pamplona Capital Management in a deal valuing the company at approximately $400 million. The transaction provides Cofense with private equity backing to support product innovation, global expansion and inorganic growth initiatives.

Bomgar has acquired Lieberman Software to integrate Lieberman’s privileged identity and credential management capabilities into Bomgar’s secure remote access portfolio. The deal positions Bomgar to offer a combined privileged access and identity solution that streamlines PAM implementations and improves security and usability for enterprise customers.

KPMG LLP has acquired the Identity and Access Management (IAM) business of Silicon Valley-based Cyberinc to strengthen its enterprise security and digital identity capabilities. The deal brings Cyberinc's ~190-person IAM team, advisory, implementation and managed services capabilities into KPMG to expand the firm's IAM and privileged user management offerings globally.