Hot on the heals of the recent Fortinet acquisition, or the other way around, depending on who you read first, we have WatchGuard.  They are looking to again extend their network visibility and integrate that data with both the endpoint and the firewall.  This is a different approach to Fortinet and I would suggest more inline with one of their other competitors – Sophos.  Most of the main firewall vendors don’t own their own endpoint client, so this could leave a hole in the emerging integrated market, where firewall and end point are destined to become one!

It will be interesting to see who takes the market leading in this new emerging market offering.

Today’s press release from WatchGuard

WatchGuard® Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, today announced the acquisition of the HawkEye G threat detection and response technology from Hexis Cyber Solutions, Inc., a division of KEYW (NASDAQ:KEYW), a global leader in cybersecurity and geospatial intelligence solutions.

“The combination of HawkEye G and WatchGuard will address the evolving threat landscape organizations face today by extending visibility from the perimeter to the end-point,” said Prakash Panjwani, WatchGuard CEO. “The acquisition aligns with our mission to deliver enterprise grade security that is easy to deploy and manage for small to midsize organizations and distributed enterprises.”

Organizations of all sizes face an increase in sophisticated zero-day attacks but lack comprehensive and actionable visibility across their network. This results in greater risk and slower response times for attack mitigation. Hexis’ HawkEye G platform provides visibility to these threats, and the tools and automation required to easily and quickly remediate incidents.

“HawkEye G is the most advanced threat detection and response product on the market,” said Chris Fedde, president of Hexis Cyber Solutions. “Our goal with this transaction was to partner with a recognized security leader who could greatly expand the product’s reach with sales and distribution while continuing to invest in the core technology. Globally recognized for their extensive security sales channel and best in class network security solutions, WatchGuard is an exciting home for the award-winning HawkEye G technology.”

In addition to the value this will provide for WatchGuard’s more than 75,000 end-users around the globe, integration of the HawkEye G detection and response features into WatchGuard’s broader managed security service provider (MSSP) enablement platform will enable service providers to provide more value than ever before, making WatchGuard the premier choice for any MSSP serving the small to medium organizations or distributed enterprises segments.

“HawkEye G’s signature-free static and dynamic host heuristics, combined with its unified scoring model, provide unparalleled visibility in to what is happening on customer networks,” said Andrew Young, vice president, product management, WatchGuard. “We look forward to bringing this innovative technology to our global customer and partner base in the coming months, allowing them to deliver more value-added security to WatchGuard’s customers.”

WatchGuard will immediately work to integrate the HawkEye G technology into its award-winning network security and visibility platform. The company will make the exciting new technology available to end-users via its global network of MSSPs and channel resellers.

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. is a global leader of integrated, multi-function business security solutions that intelligently combine industry-standard hardware, best-in-class security features, and policy-based management tools. WatchGuard provides easy-to-use, but enterprise-grade protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Wash. with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visitWatchGuard.com.

For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter @WatchGuardTech onFacebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page.

About Hexis Hawkeye G
Hexis’ HawkEye platform combines behavior-based endpoint detection, continuous endpoint recording, network deep packet inspection, security analytics, and policy-based automated and machine-guided responses to find and respond to threats before they do damage. Specifically, the HawkEye G platform enables customers to leverage multiple detection methods for improved visibility, then correlate and analyze threat severity with their proprietary ThreatSync™ technology, and ultimately respond quickly through automated or machine-guide remediation.