ReliaQuest acquires threat intelligence firm Digital Shadows for $160 million

XDR company ReliaQuest on Wednesday announced it acquired threat intelligence firm Digital Shadows for $160 million.

The move was widely viewed as one that made sense for both companies, as ReliaQuest, which had a valuation that topped $1 billion at the end of 2021, can extend detection and response across cloud, network and endpoint environments, while Digital Shadows has threat intelligence that can analyze those environments.

“Combining the internal visibility provided by ReliaQuest with the external threat intelligence and digital risk monitoring brought by Digital Shadows creates an end-to-end picture for enterprises around the world,” said Alastair Paterson, co-founder and CEO at Digital Shadows. “The complementary technical capability, shared cultural values, and geographic synergies offered by the combined companies make this a great opportunity for our customers and our partners.”

Frank Dickson, who covers security and trust at IDC, agreed that the acquisition offered value to customers. Dickson said Digital Shadows has expertise in the application of threat intelligence to threat detection, while ReliaQuest’s competency consists of automation and response.

“Bringing the two together offers a more comprehensive detection and response solution, saving clients the time necessary to integrate threat intelligence into response solutions and enable faster time-to-value for customers,” Dickson said. “In today’s environment, time-to-value is a key market competition factor.”

Jon Oltsik, a senior principal analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group and an ESG Fellow, said the ReliaQuest platform aggregates security analytics tools, such as SIEM, EDR, and NDR to offer a comprehensive perspective about security behavior on internal networks. Oltsik said armed with this information, security analysts can then pivot to see how internal network behavior aligns with known adversary behaviors. 

“With this acquisition, ReliaQuest can now offer an ‘outside-in’ perspective on security and a more complete solution,” said Oltsik. “As an industry comparison, think of Splunk’s acquisition of TruStar. Similar, but Digital Shadows also provides some threat intelligence skills and services that should make adding Digital Shadows an attractive option for ReliaQuest customers.”