Broadcom, which acquired Symantec’s enterprise security business in August, is to sell the company’s Cyber Security Services division to Accenture in a deal of undisclosed size.
The division has 300 employees, and its services include global threat monitoring and analysis through a network of SOCs (located in the US, the UK, India, Australia, Singapore and Japan), real-time threat intelligence, and incident response services.
“Becoming part of Accenture Security is a tremendous opportunity for our clients and our cyber warriors around the globe, enabling us to fuse the unique services, capabilities and solutions of two well-established companies to deliver the next generation of cybersecurity services,” said John Lionato, VP and general manager of Symantec’s Cyber Security Services business.
According to a press release from Accenture, the acquisition is intended to make Accenture Security “one of the leading providers of managed security services”.
It follows a number of other acquisitions by Accenture in the security space, including Deja vu Security, iDefense, Arismore and several more, as well as a string of acquisitions by other non-security-specialists looking to build their own security divisions, such as AT&T’s purchase of AlienVault to form AT&T Cybersecurity, and Orange’s acquisition of SecureLink and SecureData to bolster its Orange Cyberdefense business.
“Cybersecurity has become one of the most critical business imperatives for all organizations regardless of industry or geographic location,” said Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture. “With the addition of Symantec’s Cyber Security Services business, Accenture Security will offer one of the most comprehensive managed services for global businesses to detect and manage cybersecurity threats aimed at their companies.”
The parcelling-out of Symantec’s divisions is particularly interesting in its implications for the future of the cybersecurity vendor landscape. The acquisition by Broadcom saw it initially split into Consumer and Enterprise segments, with the latter now further divided into what are essentially ‘software’ and ‘services’ divisions.
Studies show that the cybersecurity skills gap is growing rather than shrinking, and that many organisations are struggling to keep up with towering security stacks. With companies (particularly SMEs) now held to higher standards of cybersecurity than ever before, more and more are looking to outsource a substantial portion of their security workload.
As demand for MSSPs grows, expect to see more acquisition activity by providers looking to establish their leadership in the market – particularly big-name tech, telecom and consulting companies hoping to capitalise on their existing reputation and clientbase.
