According to Levy and Secureworks CEO Wendy Thomas, the $859 million deal seeks to enable MSPs to better identify and respond to smaller customers who are increasingly targeted by cyberattacks.

employed acquisition According to Sophos CEO Joe Levy, Sophos’ acquisition of extended detection and response specialist SecureWorks will accelerate the cybersecurity giant’s effort to bring better XDR capabilities to protect frequently targeted SMBs.
Even with the addition of enterprise-oriented SecureWorks capabilities, “we’re going to maintain our focus on SMBs and midmarket, because we think they’re the ones that need better types of offerings the most,” Levy said in an interview.
[Related: Sophos-Secureworks Merger: 5 Big Partner Takeaways]
Levy and SecureWorks CEO Wendy Thomas spoke to CRN last week after the announcement of an $859 million deal between Sophos, owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, and SecureWorks, the majority owner of Dell Technologies.
According to Levy, the proposed acquisition will undoubtedly be one of the largest investments in SMB security in recent years, and importantly will also mean massive new opportunities for partners, including MSPs.
The focus on meeting the needs of partners “will be fundamental in the way we bring these companies together,” said Levy, a Sophos veteran who was named the company’s acting CEO and permanent CEO in February. in may,
Thomas said the goal of the merger is to create a combined company that can become an even stronger player in the fight against cybercriminals targeting SMBs and midmarket organizations.
“I think when you bring together two significant players with technology and the best managed detection and response services, you are able to bring enterprise-grade security outcomes that become accessible to the market at an affordable price – And ease of implementation – that changes the industry,” he said.
Officials said that while there is no doubt that SecureWorks XDR capabilities will be leveraged to enhance the Sophos security platform, integration is still being determined and whether SecureWorks will also be offered as a standalone platform. Will continue.
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‘A more complete offering’

Executives at Sophos’ solution provider partners told CRN they are optimistic about the potential of the deal, saying it should make Sophos more competitive in the XDR and MDR markets, while making advanced security more accessible to smaller customers. .
To date, while Sophos has a broad portfolio of security offerings, the company does not have a full set of detection and response capabilities beyond the endpoint, the partners said.
However, assuming the Secureworks deal closes, “Sophos now has a more complete offering,” said Jason Norred, CISO at Littleton, Colo.-based Sophos Partner, Solutions II.
“Sophos teaming up with Secureworks allows them to do full-stack endpoint and MDR, and capture the rest of the organization’s security logs and do full XDR response capabilities,” Nored said. “I think it would be a compelling offer.”
The acquisition “definitely does [Sophos] More competitive,” he said. “This gives them a seat at the table.”
According to NORED, given the massive threat posed against SMBs, investment in bringing more XDR capabilities to small businesses is extremely welcome. “SMB organizations are in dire need of help,” he said.
Ultimately, “I think Sophos-SecureWorks is well-positioned to have a go-to-market offering that’s kind of an all-in-one solution that really helps SMBs enhance their security program at an affordable entry point.” Allows,” Norred said.

‘head on’ competition

Other Sophos partners who spoke with CRN agreed, including Michel Drolet, founder and CEO of TowerWall, a provider of solutions and professional services for security based in Framingham, Mass. Drolet said there is no doubt that the acquisition puts Sophos in a position to compete “more generally.” With more players in the MDR market, however, much depends on integration and pricing models.
Still, many existing MDR providers are “a little expensive for the SMB play,” which could give Sophos a big advantage if it can keep its expanded MDR offering affordable for smaller customers, she said.
Tyler Rasmussen, vice president of cybersecurity at Executech, a Salt Lake City-based Sophos MSP partner, also praised the planned acquisition of Secureworks by Sophos, calling it a “very positive and encouraging sign.”
The deal “confirms their commitment to investing in and continuing to improve their XDR and MDR services – which are now absolute requirements for SMBs,” Rasmussen said.
Speaking with CRN, Levy said a key aspect of the opportunity ahead is that the combined company brings an “improved” model when it comes to security operations – one that truly integrates XDR and SIEM (security information and event )’s arrangement to “accelerate convergence”.
“Certainly, the technology that SecureWorks has built into its Tagis platform has tremendous value,” he said. “I’m very excited about the added value that we’re going to be able to provide to our customers.”

Vulnerability detection, threat detection

Some specific areas cited by Levy include SecureWorks’ vulnerability detection and response capabilities — which “we know is going to be very valuable to our customers,” he said.
Levy also pointed to the identity threat detection and response (ITDR) offering from SecureWorks, which will enhance Sophos’ existing ITDR capabilities in the Microsoft ecosystem.
“The ITDR capabilities that SecureWorks has built are ahead of most other security offerings we have seen in this space. So there’s incredible value there,” he said.
Both CEOs emphasized the partner-first mindset of each of their companies, suggesting this bodes well for the integration of channel programs once the deal closes.

‘Turning the tide’ against hackers

Thomas, who helped oversee Secureworks’ transition from an MSSP to a security vendor focused on XDR, said the company was also really inspired by Sophos’ commitment to partners.
“Sophos has a really great reputation in the partner ecosystem,” he said, adding that the company had learned early on that “the example we should emulate is the Sophos partner approach.”
Levy said he believes the combined company’s relationship with MSPs will be “key to really turning the corner for us” in SMBs’ fight against threat actors.
Overall, “I think we have a really powerful opportunity in how we’re going to bring these two entities together,” Levy said.