Datto Buys Threat Detection And Response Vendor Infocyte
“At our core, we feel like we’ve always been a security company. We’re looking for technology in the security space that we build and/or acquire that’s going to be effective,’ Datto CEO Tim Weller tells CRN.
Datto has purchased cybersecurity vendor Infocyte to help MSPs protect, detect, and respond to cyberthreats found within endpoints and cloud environments.
The Norwalk, Conn.-based MSP software vendor said Austin, Texas-based Infocyte offers both endpoint detection and response (EDR) technology and managed detection and response (MDR) services. Infocyte continuously collects and correlates data from endpoints to identify potential threats, and its technology is supported by analysts in a Security Operations Center who can respond in real-time to cyberthreats.
“MSPs now basically are in the security business,” Weller (pictured) told CRN. “When you come to work every day, the MSP needs to be thinking, ‘I have to secure the digital assets for my clients.’”
Infocyte’s capabilities will be fused together with the threat detection expertise Datto acquired from BitDam in March as well as the company’s organic security investments. Specifically, Weller expects the Infocyte acquisition will bolster Datto’s RMM (remote monitoring and management) Ransomware Defense and SaaS Defense application security prowess.
Datto’s SaaS Defense safeguards both Google Workspace as well as Microsoft 365, the latter of which is particularly relevant since two-thirds of cyberattacks against MSPs come through a Microsoft 365 inbox. Infocyte’s technology will also help protect the PCs and servers of the company’s 18,000 MSPs clients once its layered on top of the Datto RMM product, according to Weller.
“This gives us our first broader package for endpoint security,” Weller said. “This was too good to pass on.”
Terms of the acquisition – which closed last week - weren’t disclosed, and Datto’s stock is up $0.38 (1.58 percent) to $24.50 per share in trading Thursday morning.
Infocyte was founded in 2014, employs 27 people, and has raised $12.7 million in six rounds of outside funding, according to LinkedIn and Crunchbase. Infocyte has been led since February 2018 by former SonicWall General Manager Curtis Hutcheson. Hutcheson has joined Datto in a role that’s focused on corporate development for the security side of the business, according to Weller.
“Securing endpoints from advanced threats continues to be a top challenge for SMBs,” Hutcheson said in a statement. “With Datto’s partner community and growing security portfolio, we will be able to dramatically expand our reach to millions of endpoints under management, enabling Datto’s partners to provide their SMB customers with leading detection and response technologies.”
Datto plans to integrate Infocyte’s technology into its RMM platform over the course of 2022, which Weller said will further secure endpoints and fortify a key first line of defense for MSPs. Infocyte will also join Datto in building upon its rapidly expanding set of MSP-delivered security offering, according to Weller.
Infocyte can detect and orchestrate response to sophisticated threats, and its technology helps organizations maintain compliance, stop ransomware and account takeover, reduce risk, optimize security operations, and scale security teams. The company’s Series A funding round in January 2017 was led by LiveOak Venture Partners, while its Series B round in February 2018 was led by Toba Capital.
The company’s “Response Ready” Program enables partners to pre-deploy Infocyte at a very low cost and quickly respond to suspected security events before they become an incident, according to the 2021 CRN Partner Program Guide (PPG). Infocyte said its new Microsoft 365 Security Module will also be a tremendous opportunity for partners, according to the PPG.
Infocyte has a four-tier partner program based on the number of endpoints under contract and works with technology partners like Check Point and AT&T and channel partners such as Dark Rhino Security and Solutions Granted, according to the company’s website. The company’s channel program has been led since 2019 by Vice President of Sales Chris Auger, who like Hutcheson was previously at SonicWall.
From a metrics standpoint, Weller said Datto plans to track financial figures such as the number of endpoints under management and the incremental revenue each endpoint generates. Weller said the company will also track the effectiveness of the technology by monitoring the number of security incidents that get escalated and remediated using the Infocyte technology.
“At our core, we feel like we’ve always been a security company,” Weller said. “We’re looking for technology in the security space that we build and/or acquire that’s going to be effective.”