Networking giant Cisco is set to acquire Armorblox, a Silicon Valley-based startup, as its third tuck-in cybersecurity acquisition of 2023. The move aims to enhance the security of email, cloud office applications, and enterprise communications through the application of natural language understanding and Armorblox’s predictive and generative artificial intelligence. Armorblox has been recognized for its pioneering use of large language models in the cybersecurity domain.
While the terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, IT-Harvest estimates Armorblox’s value to be between $71 million and $97 million based on funding and revenue data. Once the acquisition is finalized, Armorblox will join Cisco’s security business group and bring generative AI experiences to the company’s security portfolio.
Armorblox’s leadership team includes individuals with experience at Netskope, StackRox, ThoughtSpot, and Duo Security, which was acquired by Cisco in 2018. The company’s capabilities in machine learning and natural language understanding have been commended for their effectiveness in email security, resulting in high detection rates and low false positives.
Armorblox’s solutions are utilized by over 58,000 organizations, including technology companies, higher education institutions, municipalities, and retailers. The company offers a range of products focused on threat protection, URL protection, data loss prevention, and security operations.
The acquisition aligns with Cisco’s strategy of capitalizing on depressed valuations and acquiring early-stage startups at reduced prices to bolster its security offerings. Previous acquisitions include Valtix, which enables policy enforcement in public cloud environments, and Lightspin, a cloud-native resource security provider.
By leveraging Armorblox’s advanced techniques, Cisco aims to enhance attack prediction, rapid threat detection, and efficient policy enforcement, showcasing the potential of generative AI in tackling complex cybersecurity challenges.
