A common attack scenario is to gain entry via a vulnerability and then seek to escalate privileges once inside. eEye Digital Security provides vulnerability management. BeyondTrust provides privilege authorization management and access control. One makes it harder for the attacker to get in, while the other makes it difficult to do anything if he does. These two security approaches are complementary, and the two companies have frequently found themselves working separately with the same customers. Combining resources is an obvious, logical and attractive option with little overlap and clear synergy; leading to what BeyondTrust describes as ‘the market’s first truly context-driven security and compliance solutions.’
This is the logic behind BeyondTrust’s acquisition of eEye. Both are private companies, the former based in Carlsbad and the latter in Phoenix – but with most of its employees in Irvine just 50 miles from Carlsbad. Financial details were not disclosed. However, with two successful and complementary product lines in BeyondTrust’s PowerBroker and eEye’s Blink and Retina, the integration of companies and products need not be rushed. eEye’s products will continue to be developed and supported (although their names will disappear) while BeyondTrust considers longer term options for integration. The attraction of having all of these capabilities under one management console is obvious.
eEye’s co-founder Marc Maiffret will become CTO at BeyondTrust. “Most of the people we have at eEye that are engineers have been with us 10 plus years,” Maiffret told SearchSecurity, “and our intention is to keep that longevity and experience. We wanted to do something that was big and impactful and the unique thing here is that this is a complimentary buy where there isn’t a lot of overlap.”
“We’re fundamentally marrying two different segments in the market together to solve a common problem,” said Jim Zierick, executive vice president of product operations at BeyondTrust. “We’re combining user rights policies with the ability to discover and scan systems, determine their configurations, and how they can be fixed/patched for an overall greater intelligence level.”
John Mutch, the company’s CEO, claims the acquisition will enable BeyondTrust to “protect against both internal and external threats, spanning data and endpoint protection, rights management and vulnerability management. The result,” he adds, “is a more cost-effective way to operate secure networks and satisfy governance initiatives.”
The new business is expected to have around 250 employees, and a turnover of $70m in its first year.