UPDATED 22:35 EDT / JUNE 22 2020

SECURITY

Microsoft acquires industrial cybersecurity startup CyberX for $165M

Microsoft Corp. has acquired industrial cybersecurity startup CyberX Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Various reports today suggest that the acquisition price was $165 million, following initial reports of the deal in May.

Founded in 2013, CyberX offers an industrial cybersecurity platform built by former military cybersecurity experts with nation-state expertise defending critical infrastructure. The company’s platform focuses on continuously reducing industrial control systems risk and preventing costly production outages, safety failures and environmental incidents.

The company’s platform works by mapping out all connected devices in a factory or corporate network to give administrators a high-level view of potential risks. CyberX displays unmanaged systems and equipment running on outdated firmware as well as detecting malware. Its detection algorithms are said to spot threats by looking for system activity that deviates from a device’s normal behavior.

CyberX’s platform integrates with customers’ existing information technology security stacks, including Splunk, IBM Security, Palo Alto Networks, Cisco Systems, RSA NetWitness and ServiceNow.

In a statement, Microsoft said it’s acquiring CyberX to solve challenges when it comes to securing “internet of things” devices, both for new digitization initiatives as well as for legacy operations technology and industrial control system environments.

“CyberX will complement the existing Azure IoT security capabilities and extends to existing devices including those used in industrial IoT, Operational Technology and infrastructure scenarios,” Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, Microsoft corporate vice president and chief technology officer, Cloud + AI Security, and Sam George, CVP Cloud + AI Azure IoT at Microsoft, explained in a statement. “With CyberX, customers can discover their existing IoT assets and both manage and improve the security posture of those devices.”

The company last raised a round of $18 million in March 2019. It doesn’t name customers, but they include two of the top five U.S. energy providers, a top five global pharmaceutical company, a top five U.S. chemical company and national electric and gas utilities across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Prior to its acquisition, CyberX had raised $47 million in venture capital funding. Investors included Qualcomm Ventures, Inven Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Glilot Capital Partners, Flint Capital and OurCrowd.

Image: CyberX

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