BlackBerry to Sell Cylance to Arctic Wolf

Source: DigtialStorm via iStock

NEWS BRIEF

Arctic Wolf has announced plans to acquire Cylance from its owner, BlackBerry, to add endpoint security to its Aurora Platform, which also includes managed detection and response, vulnerability management, managed security awareness, and cloud security capabilities.

The integration addresses a growing demand for unified security solutions and could potentially position Arctic Wolf to take on competitors, such as CrowdStrike and SentinelOne. Arctic Wolf will be offering a native endpoint security solution as well as giving customers the option to work with any of the 15 supported endpoint products.

“By adding endpoint security to our platform, we will be delivering the security outcomes organizations want in one, frictionless operational platform to go toe-to-toe with today’s advanced threats, while maintaining our commitment to customers and partners leveraging other endpoint solutions,” said Dan Schiappa, Arctic Wolf’s chief product and services officer, in a statement.

In a separate blog post, Schiappa said Aurora has integrated with Cylance for over seven years, and the “ability to stop 98% of endpoint attacks before they begin is something we have seen first-hand in our SOC.” He assured existing Cylance customers that their endpoint security products will continue to be fully supported.

The transaction is a mix of $160 million in cash and 5.5 million Arctic Wolf common shares of Arctic Wolf. Arctic Wolf is currently privately owned but has IPO plans. The deal is expected to close in BlackBerry’s fourth fiscal quarter, which ends in February.

The combination of Cylance and Arctic Wolf would “rapidly eliminate alert fatigue, reduce total risk exposure, and help customers unlock further value with our warranty and insurability programs,” said Nick Schneider, president and chief executive officer of Arctic Wolf, said in a statement.

Cylance is Arctic Wolf’s sixth acquisition. Previous deals include secure intelligence platform RootSecure, threat-hunting platform Rank Software, security training company Habitu8, digital forensics firm Tetra Defense, and security orchestration software developer Revelstoke.

Arctic Wolf is getting Cylance at a significant discount. BlackBerry originally paid $1.4 billion to acquire Cylance in 2018. Cylance was key to BlackBerry’s transformation away from a mobile handset company into a provider of cybersecurity services.

“As Arctic Wolf leverages its scale to build upon and grow the Cylance business, BlackBerry will benefit as a reseller of the portfolio to our large government customers and as a shareholder of the company,” said BlackBerry CEO John Giammatteo in a statement.

BlackBerry will retain its Secure Communications portfolio, including Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) for securing devices, AtHoc for critical event management, and SecuSUITE for secure messaging and phone calls.

About the Author

Managing Editor, Features, Dark Reading

As Dark Reading’s managing editor for features, Fahmida Y Rashid focuses on stories that provide security professionals with the information they need to do their jobs. She has spent over a decade analyzing news events and demystifying security technology for IT professionals and business managers. Prior to specializing in information security, Fahmida wrote about enterprise IT, especially networking, open source, and core internet infrastructure. Before becoming a journalist, she spent over 10 years as an IT professional – and has experience as a network administrator, software developer, management consultant, and product manager. Her work has appeared in various business and test trade publications, including VentureBeat, CSO Online, InfoWorld, eWEEK, CRN, PC Magazine, and Tom’s Guide.