Forcepoint, the commercial cyber security division of Raytheon, has acquired Skyfence solution for $40 million in cash.

Skyfence is a cloud security arm of a company called Imperva. In fact, Imperva acquired Skyfence in 2014 for $60 million in cash, and has sold the same now to Forcepoint today.

Skyfence offers solutions and software that provide increased visibility into cloud servers and applications like Office 365 and Dropbox. This software constantly analyzes the servers and applications for content and activity, so the chances for any fraudulent or unauthorized data leak is greatly reduced. Due to this innovative feature, this product is being used by many companies as it helps to plug hacking and data leaks, and at the same time, offers an extra layer of security.

It also acts as a cloud access security broker (CASB) that offers security services to companies looking to protect their intellectual property rights. On top of it, Skyfence helps companies to adhere to data protection standards established by organizations such as the European Union, Sarbanes-Oxley legislation and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. In all, Skyfence monitors the network constantly to identify unauthorized accesses and to protect the IP assets of a company.

Forcepoint, on the other hand, is an Austin, Texas based division of Imperva that deals with cybersecurity systems. Specifically, it delivers cybersecurity solutions for its customers to help them gain deep insights into the behavior and intention of network users, as they interact with the system as well as the different cloud applications that reside in it.

If you look closely into the business of both the divisions, you’ll understand the close connection. While one provides cybersecurity solutions, the other analyzes the network to prevent data leaks. Together, they can offer a more powerful solution, and this is why the acquisition makes sense from the perspective of both companies. With this acquisition, Forcepoint’s cloud security is expected to get a big boost.

Under the terms of the deal, Skyfence will be added to the web security and data loss prevention arm of Forcepoint, and the employees will join Forcepoint’s team. However, the operations and the location of employees will continue to be in Israel.

This deal reflects the growing importance on cyber and cloud security, considering the many attacks and the ensuing data losses that have occurred over the last few years. Statistics show that the number of attacks in 2016 increased to 1061 compared to 1017 the previous year. What’s more interesting is that the percentage of motivated crimes increased from 67 percent in 2015 to 72.1 percent in 2016, thereby signaling that crimes are becoming more planned and targeted than the causal hacks of the previous years.

In the light of these statistics, it becomes imperative for every company to protect their network and digital assets. This is why companies like Forcepoint are likely to see high levels of growth over the next few years. Undoubtedly, this acquisition is sure to act as a big boost for Forcepoint, and hopefully, will augur well for the cloud security industry and its customers at large.

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