Snyk, a prominent developer-security company, has announced the acquisition of Helios, a startup specializing in runtime application troubleshooting. This strategic move aims to augment Snyk’s AppRisk service by incorporating Helios’ app-discovery service and runtime data collection tools. The integration enhances Snyk’s ability to provide “cloud-to-code risk visibility,” offering security teams a comprehensive view of application risk across the entire software development life cycle.
While traditional security testing methods focus on pre-production vulnerability identification, runtime context becomes crucial in understanding how applications behave in the production environment. Snyk’s combination with Helios allows security teams to gain insights into an application’s interaction with its deployment environment, including external configurations that may impact its behavior. This comprehensive approach spans from the code development phase to the cloud deployment, providing a holistic security perspective.
The collaboration promises improved asset discovery, issue identification, and risk prioritization for Snyk customers. By integrating Helios’ end-to-end application discovery service and OpenTelemetry-based runtime data collection tools into the AppRisk service, Snyk aims to empower security teams and developers to collaborate effectively in governing their security programs. This acquisition follows Snyk’s previous move in the realm of developer-led application security, where it acquired Enso Security, enhancing its platform with prioritization and remediation capabilities.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and the entire Helios team is expected to join Snyk’s research team, bringing expertise in runtime collection techniques and extensive experience in complex customer development environments.
