Palo Alto buys Israeli cybersecurity co Demisto for $560m

Demisto staff Photo: Shlomi Yosef
Demisto staff Photo: Shlomi Yosef

The Tel Aviv-based company has raised $69 million to date for its orchestration and automation security technology.

Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) has announced that it is acquiring Israeli cybersecurity company Demisto for $560 million in cash and shares. The acquisition is expected to close during Palo Alto Networks fiscal third quarter.

Palo Alto says that the addition of Demisto's orchestration and automation security technologies will accelerate its application framework strategy and serve the company's aim to deliver immediate threat prevention and response for security teams. Demisto's automated playbooks have helped reduce alerts that require human review by as much as 95%, allowing security teams to focus on the most complex threats. This well-developed approach will bring Palo Alto Networks closer to using AI and machine learning to help further automate significant parts of the company's customers' security operations.

With offices in Tel Aviv and Cupertino, California, as well as the UK and Germany, Demisto was founded in July 2015 by CEO Slavik Markovich (formerly of Intel Security, McAfee and co-founder and CTO of Sentrigo), VP marketing Rishi Bhargava (formerly of Intel Security, McAfee and Solidcore); VP products, Dan Sarel (formerly of Intel Security, McAfee, Sentrigo and Check Point); and VP engineering, Guy Rinat (formerly of Intel Security, McAfee and Sentrigo). The company has raised $69 million to date including $43 million in October 2018 including from GreyLock Partners, Accel Partners, ClearSky Security.

Demisto has developed a market strategy that has attracted more than 150 customers, a quarter of which are in the Fortune 500 and include large organizations in healthcare, high technology, financial services and other industry verticals. Demisto plans to continue executing against the company's aggressive growth plans and leverage Palo Alto Networks distribution to achieve its ambitious goals. At the same time, Demisto will work closely with the Palo Alto Networks team to strengthen its existing integration with the Application Framework.

Founded in the US in 2005 by its Israeli CTO Nir Zuk, this is Palo Alto's fourth acquisition over the past few years. Last April, Palo Alto acquired Israeli cybersecurity company Secdo for an estimated $100 million.

Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora said, "We are delighted to welcome Demisto into the Palo Alto Networks family. Coupled with our Application Framework, Demisto will help us strengthen our commitment to security teams by delivering a platform that provides higher levels of integration, automation, and innovation to prevent successful cyberattacks."

Demisto CEO Slavik Markovich said, "We have dedicated ourselves to the challenge of automation because we believe that relying on people alone to combat threats will fail against the scale of today's attacks. Palo Alto Networks strategy resonates with our own vision. And we have found a like-minded team that shares our conviction that the future of security is all about automation and AI. We're thrilled to be joining them to help make it a reality."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 19, 2019

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019

Demisto staff Photo: Shlomi Yosef
Demisto staff Photo: Shlomi Yosef
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