Check Point Software intends to acquire an early-stage SaaS security business founded by former Armis leaders in order to anticipate and combat malicious application threats.
According to Vice President of Product Management Eyal Manor, the Silicon Valley-based platform security vendor's proposed acquisition of Tel Aviv, Israel-based Atmosec will give customers a better understanding of what's going on with the SaaS platforms that power their businesses, such as Office 365, Salesforce, and GitHub. Each of these platforms has thousands of apps running in the background, some of which are harmful.
"We really loved their technology. We loved the demo. This is exactly the share of mind that our customers are looking for. This is the share of mind that is basically part of our DNA. We saw that, and we really liked it," Manor told Information Security Media Group.
In trading on Wednesday, Check Point's shares rose $0.01, or 0.01%, to $133.86 per share. The acquisition's terms, which are slated to conclude by mid-September, were not disclosed. Check Point agreed to buy New York-based zero trust network access and secure web gateway firm Perimeter 81 for $490 million less than a month ago.
Atmosec's capabilities, according to Manor, go beyond SaaS security posture management, which concentrates on the configuration surface and can block users from connecting without multifactor authentication. Atmosec handles apps that access SaaS platforms and can promptly, automatically, and autonomously fix any issues with poor, rogue, or untrusted applications.
Atmosec can integrate with office productivity tools, CRM environments, development environments, and HR platforms to offer customers a picture of what's going on and to stop threat activity. Manor claims that combining Perimeter 81's ZTNA and SWG assets with Atmosec's SaaS security product and Check Point's native SD-WAN tool will enable the company to provide consolidated, single-vendor SASE.
According to Manor, Check Point has also expanded organic security service edge capabilities as part of its Harmony Connect product, which focuses on identifying, blocking, and understanding known, unknown, and zero-day vulnerabilities. However, Manor said that Check Point had not invested sufficiently in network infrastructure, leaving clients without network-as-a-service capabilities or private network cloud assets.
Many firms have battled with usability when it comes to adopting and maintaining SASE infrastructure due to the delay associated with routing data across distant locations. As a result, he claims that some organisations have chosen to implement less security protections in order to maintain usability. When properly set, SASE both prevents risks and provides a fantastic user experience, according to Manor.
Perimeter 81 will ultimately provide CheckPoint clients a native, private virtual network via a variety of providers, with Atmosec supplying the SaaS platform and Harmony Connect supplying the security layer. Manor intends to monitor the extent of SaaS security service uptake by current CheckPoint clients as well as their level of SASE tool usage.