Operational technology (OT) and IoT security company ForeScout has revealed that it is buying out network protection specialist SecurityMatters for $113 million.
Netherlands-based SecurityMatters sells OT and industrial environment-specific device visibility, continuous network monitoring, and threat and anomaly detection.
ForeScout hopes the deal will give it leverage in extended enterprise and OT, helping its customers mitigate cyber threats that target industrial IoT environments.
“Forescout’s acquisition of SecurityMatters is a natural fit as it takes us deeper into a market where we have an established foothold and are seeing explosive customer demand,” said Michael DeCeasare, CEO and president of ForeScout.
“SecurityMatters’ technology and talent will accelerate our success in securing OT, expand our total addressable market, and reinforce our solution as the industry’s only end-to-end agentless device visibility and control platform.”
Damiano Bolzoni, founder and CEO of SecurityMatters, said: “Virtually every company with OT needs to rethink its security strategy. After partnering with ForeScout for the last year, it became clear that we shared the same vision.
“Now as a single company, we will be able to accelerate our momentum and create the industry’s first capability to truly segment IT and OT environments.”
ForeScout Deal Targets Security Gaps in Industrial IoT
ForeScout products give enterprises and government agencies control of traditional and IoT devices once connected to a network.
The company is a founding partner of the US government’s CDM Program, dedicated to securing cyber systems of federal departments and agencies.
Specifically, the acquisition will give ForeScout customers dynamic network segmentation; automated rapid detection and incident response for OT; and device discovery, classification, and assessment for all IT and OT device types.
OT networks are typically monitoring large industrial control systems and key infrastructure such as transportation, processing plants, and smart buildings.
ForeScout said the convergence of IT and OT is driving a rise in interconnectivity and introducing news risks for enterprises as OT networks may not be physically segregated from the IT network.
Recent cyber attacks such as WannaCry and NotPetya have demonstrated how vulnerable OT networks can be, it added.
The company cited Forrester research that 79 percent of organisations with a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) or industrial control system (ICS) network have suffered a breach in the past 24 months.
“This stark reality has made virtually every company on the planet with OT networks rethink their security strategy,” DeCeasare said in the company’s Q3 earnings call last week.
“Previously, OT operators were responsible for security, but now CSOs are quickly assuming coverage.
“When I meet with customers, I repeatedly hear how CIOs and CSOs want a single integrated platform that lets them discover, classify, assess and control every device across their extended network. We believe ForeScout is best positioned to fill this need.”
For the third quarter, ForeScout announced $85.6 million in revenue, up 23 percent year on year, and achieved non-GAAP profitability for the first time.
Read more: IoT Technology Market Growing Steadily, But Privacy and Security Concerns Remain Widespread
