The cybersecurity M&A market has been on fire in the past two months, with a flurry of eye-watering deals that are set to shake up the industry. These include Cisco breaking its own record in a new cybersecurity acquisition, another leading cyber vendor getting acquired by private equity giant Thoma Bravo and CrowdStrike announcing a deal to boost its cloud security offerings.
Here is Infosecurity’s highlights of M&A deals that were announced during August and September 2023.
New Deloitte Acquisition to Boost Australia’s Cyber Capabilities
On August 2, Deloitte Australia announced that it will be absorbing MDR provider ParaFlare into its organization. The two companies aim to combine their expertise to offer Australia around-the-clock threat detection, intelligence and incident response.
Thoma Bravo Completes Acquisition of ForgeRock
Private equity giant Thoma Bravo announced the completion of its $2.3bn deal for identity and access management company ForgeRock on August 23. Thoma Bravo also revealed that it has combined ForgeRock into its portfolio company Ping Identity, which it acquired in October 2022.
Netskope Buys Digital Experience Management Firm
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) specialist Netskope has acquired Kadiska, a digital experience monitoring company. The deal, announced on September 6, is designed to enhance Netskope’s SASE architecture, enabling the proactive remediation of security issues while maintaining good user experience.
Tenable Agrees Deal to Acquire CNAPP Company Ermetic
On September 7, Tenable revealed it had signed a definitive agreement to purchase Ermetic Ltd for approximately $265m. Tenable will integrate Ermetic’s cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) into its own system to provide contextual risk visibility, prioritization and remediation across infrastructure and identities. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Check Point Completes Acquisition of Perimeter 81
Cybersecurity solutions vendor Check Point Software announced on September 13 that it had completed the purchase of Perimeter 81. Check Point will now incorporate Perimeter’s Security Service Edge (SSE) solutions into its own architecture as it looks to boost its position in the SASE market.
CrowdStrike Agrees Deal to Acquire Bionic
On September 19, CrowdStrike announced it will be extending its Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) through the purchase of Bionic. The proposed deal is expected to close during CrowdStrike’s fiscal third quarter, subject to customary closing conditions.
Cisco Agrees Record Deal to Acquire Splunk
Digital communications giant Cisco announced a deal to buy cybersecurity and observability firm Splunk for an enormous $28bn fee on September 21. The transaction, which will be the biggest in Cisco’s history, is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of calendar year 2024. It represents the latest in a line of recent cybersecurity acquisition deals by Cisco, with the company also in the process of taking over Armorblox, Oort and Lightspin.
Exostar to be Acquired from Thoma Bravo
Private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners announced it had agreed a deal to acquire secure business collaboration provider Exostar from fellow equity giant Thoma Bravo. Announced on September 26, Arlington aims to help Exostar continue its growth journey. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.