Cloud Security , Security Operations
Tenable Boosts Data, Cloud Security With Eureka Acquisition
Tenable to Natively Integrate Eureka's Data Security Posture Management ProductTenable will purchase a startup founded by Israeli military and Palo Alto Networks veterans to add data security posture management to its cloud security platform.
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The Baltimore-area exposure management vendor said its proposed acquisition of Tel Aviv, Israel-based Eureka will help Tenable provide data discovery, classification and risk assessment to customers, said Shai Morag, senior vice president and general manager of cloud security at Tenable. Integrating Eureka into Tenable will give customers a unified platform for visibility and management of data security risks, prioritizing threats based on comprehensive context.
"What sets us apart is how we plan to integrate Eureka's DSPM natively into our platform, providing one UI, one context and ensuring a seamless user experience," Morag told Information Security Media Group.
Eureka was started by Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR product leader Liat Hayun and Microsoft cloud app security engineering leader Asaf Weiss, who are CEO and CTO, respectively. Hayun and Weiss were together at Palo Alto Networks from 2015 to 2018, served with each other in the Israel Defense Forces from 2009 to 2014, and both attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Both will join Tenable (see: Why Tenable Is Eyeing Israeli Data Security Startup Eureka)
How Tenable, Eureka Will Come Together
Natively integrating all of Eureka's data security capabilities will give Tenable clients a consistent user experience without the need for multiple products. Morag said the combined Tenable-Eureka platform will deliver enhanced visibility, risk prioritization and comprehensive security for cloud environments. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Calcalist reported Tenable is paying "tens of millions of dollars."
"Customers will get everything around data security as part of our cloud platform without needing to go to different products," Morag said. "They'll have one platform, one place they see all - everything they have in the cloud, all the resources they have in the cloud, all the data that they have in the cloud, all the contacts that they need to have in the cloud."
Morag said Eureka's focus on data identification, risk understanding and access management - along with its ability to provide granular insights into data access and usage - make the company a good fit for Tenable's cloud security strategy. The plan to natively integrate DSPM into its cloud security platform rather than offering the capability as a stand-alone product sets Tenable's integration strategy apart.
Understanding the context of vulnerabilities - such as whether a machine is publicly exposed or if it can assume a privileged identity - is crucial for prioritizing risks, according to Morag. He said integrating data classification and context into risk assessment will allow for more accurate prioritization of cyber issues, enhancing the end customer's overall security posture.
"Think of a vulnerable machine. You want to understand if this is a critical risk to the organization or not," Morag said. "The answer to that is based on the context, meaning if it's publicly exposed, it's much more than if it's not publicly exposed. If it can assume an identity that is very privileged, it's a more critical risk to the organization. So, the elements of the data context are very, very, very important."
Tenable's 7th Acquisition Since 2019
The integration will combine Eureka's data security posture management functionality with Tenable's existing data structures and cloud resources and is expected to be completed in late 2024. This approach enhances ease of use and accuracy in risk prioritization and ensures customers get a comprehensive view of data security as part of their cloud security posture, according to Morag.
"We're hearing, more and more in the last 12 months, demand from our customers to include the DSPM capabilities as part of the cloud platform," Morag said.
The primary metrics for success post-acquisition will be the adoption rate of data security posture management capabilities by existing Tenable customers and the resultant increase in revenue, according to Morag. He said Tenable will continue to look for growth opportunities both organically and through strategic acquisitions.
"With the acquisition, we will have stronger DSPM capabilities than most of our competitors, positioning us at the forefront of the market," Morag said.
Eureka will be Tenable's seventh acquisition since winter 2019 and its first since purchasing cloud security startup Ermetic in October for $265 million. That deal will help security teams make efficient and accurate remediation decisions. Fifteen months before the Ermetic acquisition, Tenable purchased Bit Discovery for $43.8 million to help organizations discover, attribute and monitor assets on the internet.