Raytheon’s [RTN] Forcepoint company on Monday said it has acquired a cyber security firm that focuses on human behaviors, a deal that Forcepoint said complements its own human-centric approach to cyber security.
Terms of the deal for Maryland-based RedOwl were not disclosed. The Baltimore Sun reported on Tuesday that Red Owl has about 60 employees.
RedOwl’s technology platform is called user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) and provides a “holistic” view of personal behavior, including cyber, physical and financial activities, Forcepoint said. Forcepoint said it plans to integrate UEBA across its own cyber security solution set and with existing customers’ technologies for real-time insight into anomalous activity.
“The world has fundamentally changed and the way we think about security must change as well,” Matthew Moynahan, CEO of Texas-based Forcepoint, said in a statement. “If the cyber security industry fails to put people at the center, it is certain to fall short in helping customers protect their most vital assets. Forcepoint is absolutely committed to empowering customers with human-centric security systems, and RedOwl fits squarely into this promise.”
Most of the RedOwl team will report to Heath Thompson, senior vice president and general manager for Forcepoint’s Data and Insider Threat Security business.
In a post on Forcepoint’s blog on Monday, Thompson said the acquisition allows the company’s solutions to “now ingest multiple data sources—including structured and unstructured data—whether that’s from databases, Workday (HR), Salesforce, or other widely used applications and programs, and draw correlations that legacy DLP (data loss prevention) wouldn’t let you do. With the volume of data sources we can analyze, we can build a view of what ‘good’ and ‘safe’ look like for both security and compliance considerations.”
RedOwl said that combining with Forcepoint will help it accelerate its ability to “deliver a holistic solution around proactive human oversight” to its customers.
Raytheon formed Forcepoint in early 2016 following its acquisition in May 2015 of the former Websense, and combined it with its legacy cyber products business, and some small acquisitions. Vista Equity Partners has a minority stake in Forcepoint, which serves the commercial and global government cyber security markets.
Forcepoint, which Raytheon classifies as one of its operating segments for financial reporting purposes, had $566 million in sales in 2016 and is projected to generate $600 million in revenue in 2017, excluding results from the RedOwl deal.
The business information website Crunchbase says that RedOwl has $21.6 million in total equity funding, including a combined $100,000 grant from the intelligence community’s venture arm In-Q-Tel and the Maryland Venture Fund.