Microsoft to acquire cybersecurity firm, Hexadite

Microsoft on Thursday said it has agreed to purchase Hexadite, a cybersecurity firm that specializes in reducing the time it takes to resolve a threat. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed although earlier reports from when the deal was still being negotiated valued it at around $100 million.

For a company that was only founded in 2014, that’s a pretty significant accomplishment and a testament to the product they’ve created.

Microsoft said the acquisition will build on the work it is already doing with Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (WDATP) to help commercial Windows 10 customers detect, investigate and respond to high-profile security issues including zero-day attacks and ransomware.

Specifically, Microsoft is bolstering WDATP by adding artificial intelligence-based automatic investigation and remediation capabilities which it says will make response and repair faster and more effective.

WDATP is already being used to protect nearly two million devices, Microsoft revealed.

Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, said their vision is to deliver a new generation of security capabilities that helps customers protect, detect and respond to the constantly evolving and ever-changing cyberthreat landscape. Hexadite’s technology and talent, he added, will augment Microsoft’s existing capabilities and enable them to add new tools and services to their enterprise security offerings.

Lead image via Reuters