Cisco grabs SnapAttack for threat detection – Source: www.networkworld.com

Cisco is acquiring threat-detection startup SnapAttack for an undisclosed amount as it continues to expand its security portfolio.

Established in 2001 by Booz Allen’s Dark Labs, SnapAttack is known for its threat detection and engineering technology, which melds threat intelligence, attack emulation, and behavioral analytics to help customers identify potential vulnerabilities and gaps in their networks, ideally before problems happen. 

“SnapAttack provides a solution that supports the complete detection content lifecycle, starting with curated detection content discovery that is prioritized by current threat activity, potential impact and other factors, all the way through to the continuous validation, testing and assessment of deployed content,” wrote Mike Horn, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Splunk Security business, in a blog about the acquisition.

With Cisco’s acquisition of SnapAttack, security teams using Splunk products will see more innovation and accelerated delivery of capabilities that offer more control, visibility and advanced management of their security content, including the content they develop themselves, Horn stated.

“Using a unique, threat intelligence-driven approach, SnapAttack monitors changes in the threat landscape and helps organizations understand if their current detection content protects them against the latest threats,” Horn stated. “If not, it recommends detection content that’s readily deployable for security teams to apply.”

The SnapAttack technology will extend Splunk’s “detection-engineering” efforts and become part of Splunk’s security information and event management (SIEM) platform and Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) packages. SnapAttack already could integrate its detection content directly within Splunk to enhance Splunk’s own threat-hunting capabilities.

SnapAttack is just the fourth acquisition Cisco has made this year. The others are Deeper Insights, Robust Intelligence and DeepFactor. All four 2024 acquisition targets are firms with either security or AI enhancement technology. Cisco made 11 acquisitions in 2023, and the biggest of them was Splunk for $28 billion.