Telecom company Singtel’s cyber security firm Optus have announced the acquisition of cyber protection company Hivint in a USD 16.72 million deal. As per the terms of the deal, Hivint and Optus will jointly provide cyber advisory services to businesses in a bid to secure their IT environments from malware and virus attacks.
Optus believe that with the rise in adoption of cloud and other IT technologies in the APAC region, the need to curb cyber threats has also increased. They say that the disruptions, breaches and discrepancies in business IT environments need to be taken seriously since they directly affect critical applications that are related to work.
By acquiring Hivint, Optus claim that they will integrate the former’s SaaS platform called Security Colony to provide information security management systems, policies, standards, and templates for customers. They say that this integration will further boost Optus’ Trustwave security portfolio and allow them to facilitate cyber advisory services.
A spokesperson for Singtel commented:
This acquisition will strengthen Optus Business’ cybersecurity capabilities as Trustwave, the global cybersecurity arm of Singtel and Optus, integrates Hivint’s advisory services into Trustwave’s security offerings across Australia and the Asia Pacific.
Hivint say that their SaaS platform will allow Optus and its clients to create cyber security plans after looking for weaknesses in the customer’s IT environments. They also believe that this acquisition deal will help Optus meet their main security objective of protecting businesses from loss of data, intellectual property and economic assets.
John Paitaridis, managing Director at Optus Business, commented:
Hivint’s reputation for providing high-quality advisory services to businesses facing the challenges of increased cyber security threats and digitalisation will strengthen Optus’ position as one of Australia’s leading cyber security service providers and trusted adviser to both government and enterprise customers.
In closing, Singtel said that the deal is subject to mandatory approvals and processes. It looks like the cyber security market will see more such deals following this acquisition as well as Mimecast’s USD 88 million acquisition of Solebit.