Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory earlier this week inked two deals that strengthen the security and cloud products and services Deloitte will market to the federal government.
One acquisition was of TransientX, a zero-trust network access (ZTNA) company based in Hoboken, New Jersey, that features a cloud-native networking technology for ZTNA. Deloitte plans to integrate TransientX into its existing zero-trust offerings.
The second acquisition was of Sentek Consulting (Sentek Global), a San Diego-based systems engineering and cybersecurity company that works closely with the U.S. Navy.
Deloitte’s acquisitions this week are part of an ongoing trend where it has been buying cloud and security companies. Past acquisitions in 2021 include cyber threat hunter Root9B; cloud security posture management company CloudQuest; and digital risk protection company, Terbium Labs.
Commenting on Deloitte’s recent acquisitions, Shawn McCarthy, research director for government infrastructure and systems optimization strategies at IDC, said the growth of computing at the network edge has pushed networks and connected devices in new directions, with sensors and computing capabilities located far outside of traditional — and more easily protected — data centers.
“The zero-trust solutions now evolving on agency networks are expanding to encompass multiple parts of the government enterprise,” McCarthy said. “It makes sense for vendors to boost their zero-trust offerings, especially with solutions that allow for cloud-based management or full security as a service offerings. It also makes sense to boost systems engineering capabilities. The demand for agency and military digital transformation is high, with significant demand across government.”
Carla Roncato, a senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group who covers security, added that Deloitte has the largest market share of all global consultancies when it comes to risk advisory and management services. Roncato said part of Deloitte’s inorganic growth strategy over the past few years has been to acquire, on average, three or more cybersecurity products and services companies to bolster and expand its risk advisory and management capabilities globally.
“Deloitte’s acquisitions of TransientX and Sentek represents its investment in zero-trust to help operationalize least-privilege access for people, applications, devices, and network infrastructure with industry-centric cybersecurity programs for financial services and public sector,” said Roncato.