Forescout signs agreement to acquire expert in threat detection

Forescout Technologies has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cysiv, a cybersecurity innovator that uses its cloud platform to improve detection and response of true threats.

With this acquisition, Forescout states the company will leverage Cysivs threat detection engine to analyse a wealth of asset and network communications data automatically collected by Forescout's platform.

This comprehensive data across IT, IoT, OT and IoMT devices, as well as other essential data sources, enables better true threat detection and response so customers can operate more securely and efficiently. Upon the close of the acquisition, Cysiv will join Forescout.

Forescout CEO Wael Mohamed says, "Organisations need to be able to reduce the billions of data points on their networks to a handful of actionable true threats automatically. Together with Cysiv, Forescout will provide customers with the most powerful platform for automated cybersecurity across their digital terrains.

"Upon close, the acquisition will help our customers leverage actionable threat intelligence from comprehensive data collected by Forescout and analysed by Cysiv. We will receive far more than just great technology in this acquisition. The Cysiv team is exceptional, and our two organisations are highly complementary.

Today, organisations are faced with the immense pressure to secure their networks. CIOs and CISOs have experienced rapid growth in the volume and diversity of managed and unmanaged devices, including IoT devices, that has given rise to increased risks and cybersecurity threats, coinciding with a drop in available cybersecurity resources, Forescout states.

With the rapid adoption of cloud, and a cloud-first mindset that's been accelerated by the work-from-anywhere shift of the past two years, enterprises are particularly concerned with managing threats to these fluid threat environments. This has resulted in organisations not being able to effectively manage the detection, investigation, escalation and response of true threats, particularly as the threat landscape and unmanaged device landscape have become more complex.

Existing solutions for threat detection and response, such as EDR, require the use of agents on managed devices. This means that organisations dependent on an agent-based approach for threat detection and response are not able to look for threats coming from the majority of their connected devices, particularly critical assets like IoT, IoMT and OT, the company states.

For more than a decade, Forescout has been focused on integrating into the fabric of customers networks in order to collect real-time data for all connected assets and users, together with the communications among those assets and users.

According to the company, customers have been asking Forescout to leverage this comprehensive data to provide greater insight into threats for all types of assets and to enable faster, more automated response and remediation.

Cysiv CEO and co-founder Partha Panda says, "We have always been on a mission to provide better threat detection and faster response. After successfully partnering together for the last year, we are thrilled to join Forescout as we continue on the next stage of our journey.

"The combination of Forescout and Cysiv will provide organisations with best-in-class threat detection together with automated incident prioritisation and automated response.

The acquisition is expected to close in July 2022, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions and receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and comes on the heels of its acquisition of CyberMDX which further strengthens Forescout's IT, IoT and OT device coverage with IoMT expertise.