Identity & Access Management , Security Operations , Video

CEO Rosch on What Thoma Bravo's Buy Would Mean for ForgeRock

The "crazy" fluctuations in the stock market over the past 14 months can drive short-term thinking for publicly traded organizations, said ForgeRock CEO Fran Rosch.

See Also: Conversational Cyber Insurance: How Cybersecurity and Cyber Insurance are Interwined

A proposed $2.3 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo would allow San Francisco-based ForgeRock to really think about the best long-term investments and opportunities in the digital identity market, according to Rosch. He said it would be "really great" for ForgeRock to be part of the platform that Thoma Bravo is investing in, which includes fellow IAM vendor Ping Identity and identity governance provider SailPoint (see: Thoma Bravo Identity Push Continues With $2.3B ForgeRock Buy).

"These guys really understand identity and cyber," Rosch said. "They have a lot of expertise within the organization that can really help us further our mission around identity. So we're really excited to be part of that platform."

Information Security Media Group spoke with Rosch prior to a Politico report that the Department of Justice might attempt to block the Thoma Bravo acquisition over antitrust concerns, given that Ping and ForgeRock have been fierce rivals. Politico Pro later reported the Justice Department wants information about how Microsoft's growth in the customer identity market has changed the competitive landscape.

Thoma Bravo and ForgeRock agreed to give the Justice Department until Wednesday - though that can always be extended - to decide whether to sue, according to Politico. ForgeRock declined to comment to ISMG on the Politico and Politico Pro reports.

In this video interview with ISMG, Rosch also discusses:

• What's driving the rise in artificial intelligence-based fraud attacks;
• Why ForgeRock opted to build a passwordless authentication tool;
• Why clients view governance as a feature of identity management.

Rosch has 20 years of experience leading enterprise security and identity management teams. He joined ForgeRock in June 2018 from Symantec, where he was EVP and GM of the company's $2B+ consumer digital safety segment. Prior to that, Rosch served as senior vice president of Symantec's authentication and identity management services. He joined Symantec in 2010 through its acquisition of VeriSign's security business.