Cisco to Acquire Lancope
Fourth Security Firm Acquisition for Networking Company
Cisco plans to acquire network security vendor Lancope, its latest in a series of acquisitions of companies specializing in information security.
The networking firm announced Oct. 27 that it will pay $452.5 million for Lancope, which is best known for StealthWatch, a product that uses analytics to identify and mitigate internal threats.
Back in 2013, Cisco grabbed headlines when it spent $2.7 billion to acquire cybersecurity firm Sourcefire. In 2014, it acquired the malware-detection technology firm ThreatGrid. Then earlier this year, it purchased could security company OpenDNS for $535 million (see: Cisco to Acquire OpenDNS)
Cisco says Lancope will fit in its "security everywhere" platform, helping it to "provide advanced threat protection across the full attack continuum."
Sizing Up the Deal
Rick Holland, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester research, tells Information Security Media Group that the deal is a good move for both companies. "Cisco reps already were selling Lancope directly as a reseller," he says. "It was a 'try before you buy' scenario."
Lancope's StealthWatch is a good fit for Cisco's identity services engine, Holland says, because unlike perimeter-focused security solutions, Lancope's technology finds intruders who have made it through all perimeter network defenses, whether malicious or accidental, by analyzing behaviors and comparing them to normal thresholds.
.@CiscoSecurity announced the intent to acquire .@Lancope > finally, wondered when this would happen https://t.co/ykchmnoIx9
� Rick Holland (@rickhholland) October 27, 2015Adrian Sanabria, analyst at IT market research firm 451 Research, says Cisco's series of acquisitions will enable it become a strong "front-of-pack" security vendor with a dedicated platform that can compete with other security industry leaders.
"Cisco is continuing to build on its Sourcefire acquisition, putting together a [suite] of products that talk to one another and provide users with a dedicated solution," Sanabria says.
