Palo Alto Networks [PANW] has acquired LightCyber, a private cybersecurity company that previously developed an automated behavioral analytics technology, for $105 million in cash, Palo Alto Networks said Tuesday.
According to Gartner, a research and advisory firm, LightCyber has led the industry in these automated behavioral analytics capabilities. It uses machine learning to quickly and accurate identify attacks based on identifying behavioral anomalies inside a network, according to Palo Alto Networks.
LightCyber’s technology analyzes user and entity activity before identifying and protecting against anomalous activities indicative of an active cyber attack.
The company will continue to offer LightCyber’s products and support existing customer implementations while engineering the technology into the Palo Alto Network Next-Generation Security Platform. This integration is planned to be completed by the end of 2017.
Palo Alto said adding behavioral analytics to its platform will enhance its automated threat prevention capabilities and the ability for customer organizations to prevent cyber breaches throughout the entire attack life cycle.
Mark McLaughlin, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, said LightCyber’s vision to use automation and machine learning to help identify otherwise sophisticated undetected attacks “is well-aligned with our platform approach. This technology will complement the existing automated threat prevention capabilities of our platform to help organizations not only improve but also scale their security protections to prevent cyber breaches,” he said in a statement.
“We are pleased to join the Palo Alto Networks team, combining our technology innovations and accelerating adoption of behavioral analytics to help organizations bolster their defenses against the advanced and sophisticated adversaries they are facing today,” Gonen Fink, CEO of LightCyber, added.