Cyber security vendor, Forcepoint has acquired security analytics provider, RedOwl for an undisclosed sum.
RedOwl’s user and entity behaviour analytics (UEBA) technology provides real-time insights into people’s cyber, physical and financial activities across data, devices and applications.
The analytics platform will be integrated across Forcepoint’s portfolio and existing customer’s technology.
Forcepoint CEO, Matthew Moynahan, said it was committed to providing human-centric security systems, which is where RedOwl fits in.
“If the cybersecurity industry fails to put people at the centre, it will fall short in helping customers protect their most vital assets,” Moynahan said.
RedOwl CEO, Guy Filippelli, said coming together with Forcepoint will accelerate its ability to deliver a holistic solution around proactive human oversight.
In Australia, Forecepoint has three distributors including Tech Data Technology Solutions, M.Tech Products Australia and newly appointed, Orca Tech.
RedOwl employees will be joining the Forcepoint team as part of the data and insider threat security business, reporting to general manager and vice president, Heath Thompson.
"With this acquisition, we can now ingest multiple data sources including structured and unstructured data, whether that’s from databases, Workday (HR), Salesforce, or other widely used applications and programs, and draw correlations that legacy DLP wouldn’t let you do," Thompson said in a statement.
"With the volume of data sources we can analyse, and build a view of what 'good' and 'safe' look like for both security and compliance considerations.
"When something falls out of that normal profile, like accessing data at odd times, or from odd locations, we can raise the awareness and automatically adapt protection to the appropriate risk level."
Thompson noted that the UEBA market was moving from solving insider threat-only cases to people-centric protection for security and compliance requirements.
"Traditional data loss prevention (DLP) has relied on static policy alone, without consideration for risky user behaviours," Thompson said.
"By taking insights around risky behaviour into consideration, policy enforcement can become risk-adaptive, taking specific actions based on the dynamic determination of risk."
Thompson said adding RedOwl's UEBA capabilities allow Forcepoint to provide a foundation for risk-adaptive DLP, which is suitable for organisations that face heavy compliance obligations such as government or financial services or companies wanting to protect their intellectual property.
Recently, Technology Business Research, revealed large players in the security space such as Symantec, Cisco, IBM, Check Point and Intel, will control a smaller share of the market by 2021 as mid-sized vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Trend Micro, FireEye and Forcepoint increase their share of the security space.
The research also revealed that many organisations plan to increase security spending over the next five years, driving the market’s growth from US$49.4 billion in 2016 to US$85.7 billion by 2021.
