Sophos acquires Secureworks for USD $859 million

Sophos has completed its acquisition of Secureworks for USD $859 million, a significant development in the cybersecurity industry.

This acquisition positions Sophos as the leading pure-play cybersecurity provider of Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services, now supporting over 28,000 organisations globally. The company aims to deliver an advanced security operations platform that includes hundreds of built-in integrations for adaptive protection, detection, and response to mitigate cyberattacks.

The transaction, which will see Secureworks' common stock cease trading on Nasdaq, was backed by Thoma Bravo, a software investment firm. The deal involved several legal and financial advisory firms, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP acting as legal counsel for Sophos and various financial institutions providing advisory and debt financing services.

CEO of Sophos, Joe Levy, commented on the acquisition: "The market is embracing MDR as a clear means to deliver positive cybersecurity outcomes, and this has meant rapid growth in the category. Sophos is differentiated by our very mature competencies in ransomware detection, malware analysis and threat actor tradecraft. These defenses are further augmented by Sophos' native artificial intelligence (AI), first innovated by our globally peer-recognized AI team nearly a decade ago, and embedded in our MDR, endpoint, network, email, and cloud security to more effectively neutralize and stop threats. With the integration of Secureworks, our expanded services and product portfolio will provide even stronger end-to-end security solutions that will include identity threat detection and response (ITDR), next-gen SIEM and managed risk, all in a single open platform."

Sophos highlighted that the acquisition intends to expand its threat intelligence and security services capabilities. This will be facilitated by integrating Secureworks' Counter Threat Unit and security operations teams, enabling them to provide greater protection for organisations with diverse IT environments.

As part of its channel-first approach, Sophos emphasises its continued commitment to its global community of resellers, Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs). The acquisition will aid these partners in expanding their reach and enhancing their operational capabilities while strengthening defences against complex cyber threats.

Joe Levy added, "We will also be able to further advance our AI, threat intelligence and attack research through more diverse and deeper global telemetry that is analyst-tuned for the real-world. At every level, we are very excited about this next accelerated chapter for Sophos."

Meanwhile, both companies are maintaining business operations as usual. They will continue to work with their channel partners and MSPs worldwide to distribute current security services and technology. Sophos, with a portfolio that includes MDR, endpoint, network, email, and cloud security solutions, protects more than 600,000 customers globally.

Sophos acquired Secureworks in an all-cash transaction, offering shareholders USD $8.50 per share, representing a 28% premium to the unaffected 90-day volume-weighted average price.