Michael DeCesare (ForeScout)
ForeScout Technologies has acquired operational technology (OT) network protection company SecurityMatters in a US$113 million cash deal.
Through the acquisition, the networking security vendor plans to boost its presence in agent-less device visibility and control with expanded capabilities and advanced features to secure OT and industrial environments.
Established in 2009 in the Netherlands, SecurityMatters provides organisations with device visibility, continuous network monitoring, and threat and anomaly detection specific to operational technology and industrial environments.
According to ForeScout CEO and president Michael DeCesare, the acquisition is a natural fit and will take ForeScout deeper into a market the company has seen increasing customer demand.
"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 agent-less device visibility and control platform," he said.
The acquisition follows a recent partnership between the two companies in June, when SecurityMatters and ForeScout announced a technology integration partnership to guarantee advanced detection, visibility and control to ICS (industrial control systems) asset owners and restore confidence across OT and IT networks.
Specifically, that partnership saw ForeScout CounterACT and SecurityMatters’ SilentDefense seamlessly integrate and consolidate information independently collected and make it available to the user through the ForeScout platform and other platforms.
"Virtually every company with OT needs to rethink its cybersecurity strategy," said Damiano Bolzoni, founder and CEO at SecurityMatters. "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."
