Credit: Palo Alto Networks
Cyber security solutions vendor Palo Alto Networks is set to integrate new attack surface capabilities into its Cortex offering after striking a deal to acquire cyber security provider Expanse for US$800 million.
Based in San Francisco, Expanse was founded in 2012 and specialises in attack surface management. The company’s internet collection and attribution platform is designed to constantly monitor the global internet to map exposed and untracked assets that comprise organisations’ attack surfaces, evaluate and prioritise risk and provide mitigation.
Expanse claims customers that include Fortune 500 organisations in the financial, healthcare, entertainment and technology industries as well as mission-critical government organisations, including the US military.
"Expanse's mission is to discover and mitigate risks for our customers that no one else can find,” Expanse CEO and co-founder Tim Junio said. “The world's largest and most complex organisations trust Expanse to continuously discover, inventory, monitor, and report against their dynamically changing attack surface.”
Under the terms of acquisition deal, Palo Alto Networks will acquire Expanse for a total purchase price of approximately US$670 million in cash and stock and around US$130 million in replacement equity awards, a combined value of US$800 million in total.
Once woven into the Palo Alto Networks technology stack, the Expanse platform is expected to “significantly” enrich the vendor’s Cortex product suite and create the ability to stitch together external, internal and threat data to provide organisations with a complete, integrated view of the enterprise.
"We are thrilled to add the Expanse platform to our Cortex product suite,” Palo Alto Networks CEO and chairman Nikesh Arora said. “By integrating Expanse's attack surface management capabilities into Cortex after closing, we will be able to offer the first solution that combines the outside view of an organisation's attack surface with an inside view to proactively address all security threats.
The deal also sees Expanse co-founders Junio and Matt Kraning join Palo Alto Networks.
The proposed acquisition is expected to close during Palo Alto Networks fiscal second quarter, subject to the usual regulatory approvals and conditions.
“Matt and I look forward to joining forces with Palo Alto Networks to help secure the internet for enterprises and governments around the world,” Junio said.
