Sophos Acquires SurfRight to Strengthen and Accelerate Next-Generation Endpoint Protection Leadership

Sophos (LSE: SOPH),a global leader in network and endpoint security, today announced the acquisition of SurfRight, an innovator in signature-less next-generation endpoint threat detection and response (ETDR) and advanced threat prevention.

Based in Hengelo, the Netherlands, SurfRight has developed a portfolio of technologies that prevent, detect and remediate zero-day and sophisticated attacks by interruptingmalwareandadvanced persistent threat (APT) vectors. SurfRight’s real time anti-exploit technology focuses on detecting and preventing the memory manipulations and abuses that allow malicious code to run in the first place. Generic prevention of exploits at this early stage in the attack chain is a key enhancement to endpoint security mechanisms and can help thwart malicious code in the processor and memory. The portfolio also includes anti-espionage technology and enhanced protection against ransom ware attacks such as CryptoLocker.

Sophos is recognized as a leader in endpoint protection today, with a growing set of next-generation technologies such as behavior-based analytics, Malicious Traffic Detection that monitors attempted outbound connections to known bad URLs, and Application Reputation which leverages crowd-sourced big data warehouse managed by SophosLabs to determine whether a downloaded file is known to be good or bad and prompts the user to take appropriate action. This acquisition will further strengthen Sophos’ leading endpoint protection technology, by adding complementary new defense tactics, delivered either on premise or in the cloud. 

“SurfRight is a growing, profitable business with an established customer base and proven security capabilities. The team has engineered powerful, innovative next generation endpoint technologies that provide multiple advanced protection and mitigation elements, and yet are simple to use,” commented Kris Hagerman, CEO at Sophos. “SurfRight’s products embody the same product vision we have at Sophos – that even the most advanced IT security products should be simple to deploy and manage by organizations of any size. We are excited to welcome SurfRight to Sophos and look forward to introducing the benefits of this leading-edge technology to our global customer and partner base.”

Sophos will immediately work to integrate the SurfRight technology into its line of endpoint security solutions. Once the integration work has been completed, Sophos will make the technology acquired from SurfRight available via its global network of more than 15,000 channel partners.

“Sophos offers SurfRight the opportunity to be part of a high-growth industry leader with a world-class channel and specialized product development teams to accelerate the delivery of our technology into IT organizations of all sizes,” said Mark Loman, CEO at SurfRight. “We built this new technology from the ground up to address every vector of an APT attack in an auto-responding, coordinated manner, thus enhancing the speed of detection and response. SurfRight’s unique next generation endpoint security software complements Sophos’ offerings and delivers advanced security capabilities to better protect businesses worldwide.”

SurfRight’s  technology will also further enhance the effectiveness of Sophos’ synchronized security strategy, in which multiple components of security protection, including network security and endpoint security, actively and continuously communicate with each other. This innovative approach leads to faster threat detection and a dramatic reduction in the time and resources required to investigate and address security incidents.

“The team at SurfRight has developed cutting-edge technology that interrupts and mitigates even custom-made malware and exploits unknown to traditional antivirus or network-based intrusion detection systems,” commented Dan Schiappa, senior vice president of Enduser Security at Sophos. “We recently announced the first delivery of our synchronized security strategy with the next generation XG Series Firewall, and this enhancement to our next generation endpoint solutions further strengthens the ‘better together’ approach as a key advantage for our customers.”

Sophos will continue development and support for SurfRight’s existing product line including its popular HitmanPro malware scanning and removal tools, used by more than 20 million users worldwide. Sophos acquired SurfRight for a cash consideration of $31.8 million and will retain all SurfRight employees and the company’s office in Hengelo. SurfRight CEO Mark Loman will join the Sophos Enduser Security Group, reporting to Dan Schiappa.