The Sunnydale, CA-based cybersecurity firm Proofpoint has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the data loss prevention (DLP) and insider threat management firm ObserveIT for $225 million.
For several months there has been speculation that Proofpoint will be moving into DLP to better protect its clients from sophisticated cyberattacks and insider threats. The announcement has confirmed that that those capabilities have financially been acquired.
ObserveIT was founded in Israel and is now headquartered in Boston, MA. The company was formed in 2006 and has developed an insider threat and DLP solution that helps IT teams monitor for cyber threats in real time and provides insights into user activity to identify insider threats. ObserveIT has so far raised $53 million in investment to fund the development of its cybersecurty platform and the company has 150 employees, 70 of whom are based in Israel.
The ObserveIT solution will be integrated into Proofpoint’s cybersecurity suite, which includes email security, mobile device security, digital risk detection, email encryption, and email archiving services.
According to Proofpoint, the integration of the ObserveIT platform will give Proofpoint “unprecedented insights into user activity with their sensitive data” and will allow real-time detection of suspicious activity related to people, data, devices, and applications. The integration will allow IT teams to instantly see where data is being mishandled, whether that is on-premises or in the cloud or email system.
“Defending data requires the ability to detect risky insider threat behavior and risky user activity, and swiftly mitigate risk across cloud apps, email, and endpoints,” said Gary Steele, chairman of the board and CEO of Proofpoint “We are the only security company that provides organizations with deep visibility into their most attacked people.”
The deal is expected to close in the final quarter of 2019.