Network protection giant Palo Alto Networks Inc. is acquiring Demisto Inc., a startup that uses chatbots and machine learning to help cybersecurity teams work more efficiently.

The deal, announced today, is worth $560 million. Palo Alto Networks expects to complete the acquisition by the end of April and plans to continue offering Demisto’s software on a standalone basis after the deal goes through.

Four-year-old Demisto has developed a platform that enables members of a company’s security team to coordinate their efforts after a breach. Administrators can centrally view incident data their company’s different monitoring tools, as well as reconstruct attacks to better understand their impact. A built-in chatbot helps with tasks such as identifying the most important details from the available information.

The chatbot is paired with machine learning features designed to automate operations further. Among other things, Demisto’s platform can suggest which member of the security team should investigate a potential breach based on their track record in dealing with similar situations. The software can handle certain incidents on its own by drawing on threat response “playbooks” created in advance by administrators.

Demisto’s platform doesn’t execute these playbooks directly. Instead, the software sends commands to other security tools such as Palo Alto Networks’ firewall products, which it supports through a set of connectors. The networking protection giant said it intends to strengthen this integration as part of its plans for Demisto.

Besides the startup’s technology, Palo Alto Networks is also acquiring a sizable roster of customer accounts. Demisto boasts more than 150 enterprise clients, including several dozen on the Fortune 500 list. This installed base was likely a big contributor to the $560 million acquisition price, especially considering the startup has only raised $69 million from investors.

The transaction is the fourth nine-figure acquisition that Palo Alto Networks has made in the past year. It comes four months after the company’s previous startup deal, the purchase of cloud security provider RedLock Inc. for $173 million.

Demisto founder and Chief Executive Slavik Markovich shared details on Demisto’s platform and approach in a conversation last summer at SiliconANGLE’s video studio theCUBE in Palo Alto, California:

Photo: Palo Alto Networks