Palo Alto Networks is in talks to acquire cybersecurity specialist CyberArk, according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal could be finalized as early as this week.
The Israeli cybersecurity company CyberArk is reportedly being acquired by Palo Alto Networks for more than 20 billion dollars.
What Does CyberArk Do?
CyberArk specializes in login and access management. The company has 8,500 customers and enables administrators to set strong passwords, change those passwords, implement MFA, and secure logins. Another key tool allows administrators to manage their access credentials. CyberArk can locate administrator passwords, store them in isolation, and monitor their usage.
Additionally, the company offers a secure browser that prevents cookie theft and the uploading of malicious files. For external applications, there are one-time passwords to ensure sensitive logins don’t fall into the wrong hands.
Strategic Expansion
Palo Alto Networks is also active in the access management market with Prisma Access, a tool for secure connections between employee devices and business applications. The acquisition of CyberArk would increase the company’s presence in that market.
The deal is also interesting in other areas, writes SiliconANGLE. Through a previous acquisition of 1.54 billion dollars, CyberArk possesses technology for public key cryptography.
Strong Growth
Although CyberArk is much smaller in revenue, 221 million dollars last quarter compared to 2.3 billion for Palo Alto Networks, the company is growing faster. Revenue increased by 43 percent last quarter, compared to 15 percent growth at Palo Alto.
If the deal goes through, it will be the largest acquisition ever for Palo Alto Networks. It is not the largest cybersecurity deal of the year; for now, that title goes to Google’s acquisition of Wiz for 32 billion dollars.
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