ForeScout Buys SecurityMatters for $113M to Expand Network Protection

The Netherlands-based startup provides device visibility, continuous network monitoring, and threat and anomaly detection specific to operational technology and industrial environments.ForeScout acquired SecurityMatters, an operational technology (OT) network protection company, for about $113 million in cash. The IoT security company says the purchase will bolster its agentless device visibility and control and expand these capabilities across OT and industrial environments. SecurityMatters, based in The Netherlands, was founded in 2009. It raised about $5 million in a Series A round in 2016. It provides device visibility, continuous network monitoring, and threat and anomaly detection specific to OT and industrial environments This is ForeScout’s first acquisition since going public last year. The San Jose, California-based company raised about $117 million in its initial public offering. ForeScout says SecurityMatters’ passive network monitoring and protocol analysis, combined with its own visibility platform, will enable device discovery, classification, and assessment for devices across IT and OT and will provide a comprehensive view of companies’ risk profile and compliance state. SecurityMatters will also help ForeScout extend its segmentation and policy orchestration to OT devices and networks, and improve threat response using its detection engine for industrial-control-system-specific threat indicators and behavioral anomalies. The startup has a library of more than 1,600 of these indicators. The purchase follows several security acquisitions over the past few weeks. Thoma Bravo said it would buy application security testing company Veracode from Broadcom for $950 million. Symantec acquired two companies — Javelin Networks and Appthority — around the same time. And late last month Check Point Software acquired Dome9 for $175 million and Fortinet purchased ZoneFox for an undisclosed amount.