IBM announces acquisition of Randori

IBM announced that it plans to acquire Randori, a leading attack surface management (ASM) and offensive cybersecurity provider based in the Boston area. Randori helps customers continually identify external assets, both on-premises and in the cloud, that are visible to attackers – and prioritize exposures that pose the greatest risk.

Investigations into recent data breaches have shown that despite increased investment, companies continue to struggle to manage their attack surface. In fact, 67% of organizations have seen their external attack surface expand over the past two years due to the increasing use of cloud, third-party services, Internet of Things, and cyber-physical systems. And 69% were compromised via unknown, unmanaged or poorly managed internet-facing assets in the past year.

“Our customers today face managing a complex technology landscape of accelerated cyberattacks targeting applications running in a variety of hybrid cloud environments – from public clouds, private clouds and on-premises,” said Mary O’Brien, general manager, IBM Security . “In this environment, it’s critical that organizations arm themselves with the attacker perspective to help find their most critical blind spots and focus their efforts on areas that will minimize business disruption and damage to revenue and reputation.”

Randori is IBM’s fourth acquisition of 2022 as the company continues to bolster its AI and hybrid cloud skills and capabilities, including in cybersecurity. IBM has acquired more than 20 companies since Arvind Krishna became CEO in April 2020.

Taking on the role of attackers

Randori is a hacker-led company with software to help security teams discover gaps, assess risk, and improve their security posture over time, delivering an authentic attack experience at scale. Designed to help security teams focus on previously unknown points of exposure, Randori’s unique attack surface management solution takes into account an adversary’s logic based on real-world attacks – and is the only one to prioritize based on the level of risk as well as an asset’s attractiveness to potential attackers using its proprietary scoring system.

Their unique approach has led to the development of a cloud-native solution that provides better prioritization of vulnerabilities and reduces noise by focusing on customers’ unique attack surface. By simply entering an email domain, Randori will begin mapping a customer’s attack surface, helping to identify hidden IT risks and potential entry points for ransomware. Based in Waltham, MA, with offices in Denver, CO, Randori is supported by Accomplice, .406 Ventures, Harmony Partners and Legion Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the coming months, subject to customary closing conditions and any necessary regulatory reviews.

“We started Randori to ensure that all organizations have access to the attacker perspective,” said Brian Hazzard, co-founder and CEO of Randori. “To stay ahead of today’s threats, you need to know what’s exposed and how attackers view your environment – ​​that’s exactly what Randori offers. intelligence, offensive security and global reach. Together, we can arm the industry with the attacker perspective – helping give every organization the visibility and insight it needs to anticipate the next wave of attacks.”

Following the closing of the acquisition, IBM plans to integrate Randori’s attack surface management software with the extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities of IBM Security QRadar. By feeding Randori insights into QRadar XDR, security teams will be able to leverage real-time attack surface visibility for intelligent alert triage, threat hunting, and incident response. This can help eliminate the need for customers to manually monitor new critical applications and respond quickly when new issues or threats emerge at their perimeter.

Randori also offers enterprises a solution that uniquely combines attack surface management with continuous automated red teaming (CART) to stress test defenses and incident response teams. Upon closing, IBM will leverage Randori to complement X-Force Red’s elite hacker-leading offensive security services, while further enriching QRadar XDR’s detection and response capabilities. This will allow more global customers to benefit from a first-rate attack experience that helps discover where organizations are most vulnerable. Randori’s insights will also be leveraged by IBM’s Managed Security Services to help improve threat detection for thousands of customers.

Source: TI Inside