The tech giant Microsoft continually improves its services to users. But with the hundreds of security hacks threatening users’ digital real estate, Microsoft puts its foot down on RiskIQ acquisition.
Microsoft is on a mission to add an extra layer of cybersecurity to reassure users’ protection, especially on cloud-based services like Azure. The tech giant confirmed on Monday that RiskIQ acquisition is underway.
Microsoft vice president of cloud security Eric Doerr said the acquisition aims to “build a more comprehensive view of the global threats to their businesses, better understand vulnerable internet-facing assets, and build world-class threat intelligence.”
RiskIQ happy to join forces with Microsoft
RiskIQ will join forces with the big software company. The cybersecurity company based in San Francisco, California, also claimed that this acquisition was under wraps for more than a decade.
RiskIQ provides cloud-based services (SaaS) to businesses and organizations to detect fraud, malware, phishing, and other online security risks. Since its founding in 2009, RiskIQ has garnered over $83 million from investors. The cybersecurity company has a specialization in monitoring operations and digital protection across all cloud-based applications and software.
RiskIQ co-founder and CEO Elias Manousos stated, “We’re thrilled to add RiskIQ’s Attack Surface and Threat Intelligence solutions to the Microsoft Security portfolio, extending and accelerating our impact. Our combined capabilities will enable best-in-class protection, investigations, and response against today’s threats.”
RiskIQ is proud of having the same vision ever since the company was launched in 2009. The cybersecurity company aims to bring people together. Connecting people while ensuring a safe process has always been the company’s prime goal. And they claim that the goal still remains up until this day.
This unwavering passion explains how far the company has come. RiskIQ boasts fostering partnerships with most of the Global 2,000. Moreover, the company also takes pride in over 100,000 security experts that also joined them in their fulfilling journey.
The company promises more impactful data and solutions services, with robust integration of Microsoft’s security portfolio. All these efforts will lead to more enhanced threat detection and response.
Acquisition costs
As for the acquisition cost, it remains undisclosed as both parties haven’t declared how much the total acquisition was. However, Bloomberg experts have estimated the acquisition deal at $500 million in upfront cash.
The RiskIQ acquisition is only one of two acquisitions Microsoft has done in several months. In the previous month, Microsoft also bought the open-source software company ReFirm Labs. The software company focuses more on firmware, which links hardware devices and operating systems.
Microsoft has no regrets
As stated on RiskIQ’s website, the acquisition has been over a decade in the making. And Microsoft is happy to partner with a company with such an exceptional reputation in cybersecurity. While Microsoft focuses on its productivity apps and software products, having RiskIQ onboard means not worrying about data and revenue losses from cyber attacks.
There have been several cyber attacks in the previous years. SolarWinds, a software provider, had been compromised through a security attack, affecting roughly 18,000 customers. Another IT company Kaseya Fell was another prey to a ransomware attack. The attack affected over 1,000 downstream businesses.
Microsoft already boasts a reliable cybersecurity system, with support from 3,500 security professionals and a threat intelligence center. It stated that RiskIQ will not only add to its security portfolio, but will also garner more revenue.
