Sophos has acquired Rook Security, a managed detection and response (MDR) services company in a move that will see it provide managed detection and response to its clients.
Founded in 2008, Rook Security is important to Sophos because it provides cyberthreat hunters and incident response experts who monitor, hunt for, analyze and respond to security incidents for businesses of all sizes and Sophos will combine Rook Security’s threat detection, investigation and response capabilities with its recently acquired DarkBytes technology platform to create re-sellable MDR services.
Sophos will deliver the new MDR services through its network of approximately 47,000 channel partners worldwide.
According to Joe Levy, chief technology officer at Sophos, “With MDR, Sophos’ channel partners will be able to provide businesses of all sizes with expert services that continuously detect, hunt for and respond to security incidents.”
The move comes at a time when cybercriminals are relentlessly trying to exploit organizations with techniques ranging from tried-and-true phishing emails to the more recent trend of ‘hacker pen-testing’ to find weaknesses in their surface area.
The threats are making it necessary for businesses to have 24/7 monitoring and management of their networks, yet many of them do not have the expertise, can’t keep up or don’t have the security teams in-house to optimally configure and manage security around-the-clock.
Sophos plans to align its synchronized security technology and product portfolio with Rook Security’s 24/7 services for MDR customers. Rook Security experts will also be able to review these customer security postures to ensure optimal policy configurations for Sophos products across estates.
“Rook Security provides managed detection and response services to detect and eliminate cyber threats. Through threat hunting and data analytics, Rook Security’s experts rapidly detect and mitigate active attacks,” said J.J. Thompson, founder and CEO, Rook Security. “We are excited to bring our experts and service delivery innovation to Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity. Together, we can implement faster, more effective threat detection and response capabilities to better protect businesses.”
