DALLAS, July 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- AT&T* today announced its plans to acquire
AlienVault®, a privately held company based in San Mateo,
Calif. The agreement has been approved by both companies.
The acquisition of AlienVault will enable AT&T to expand its
enterprise-grade security solutions portfolio and offerings to
millions of small and medium-sized businesses. AlienVault's
innovative technology and security talent will help accelerate
AT&T's vision of enabling organizations of all sizes with
effective cybersecurity solutions.
The acquisition will combine AlienVault's expertise in
threat intelligence with AT&T's cybersecurity solutions
portfolio that includes threat detection and prevention as well as
response technologies and services. After the acquisition closes,
AT&T business customers will be able to access our unified
security management platform that helps make organizations more
effective at threat detection and response, by giving them access
to a broad set of enterprise-grade security capabilities.
According to a 2017 study¹ conducted by the Ponemon Institute,
more than 61 percent of small and medium-sized businesses have been
breached in the last 12 months, up from 55 percent in 2016.
"Regardless of size or industry, businesses today need cyber
threat detection and response technologies and services," said
Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO, AT&T
Business. "The current threat landscape has shifted this from a
luxury for some, to a requirement for all."
"AlienVault's expertise in threat intelligence will improve our
ability to help organizations detect and respond to cybersecurity
attacks. Together, with our enterprise-grade detection, response
and remediation capabilities, we're providing scalable,
intelligent, affordable security for business customers of all
sizes," said Arroyo.
AT&T is positioned as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for
worldwide managed security services. The report cites that AT&T
has made security a top focus. AT&T is making investments
related to advanced threat detection and analysis, threat
intelligence, virtualized security functions, and complementary
services.2
AT&T will continue to invest in and build on AlienVault's
foundational Unified Security Management platform and Open Threat
Exchange, the world's first and largest open threat intelligence
community, as the company integrates AlienVault into AT&T's
cybersecurity suite of services.
"We're thrilled to join forces with AT&T. They bring a
robust cybersecurity portfolio with an industry-leading technology
ecosystem," said Barmak Meftah,
president and CEO, AlienVault. "This deal accelerates our ability
to deliver on the AlienVault mission, which is to democratize
threat detection and response to companies of all sizes."
In today's digital world, businesses need a cyber risk
management strategy to reduce risk across their entire ecosystem.
After the acquisition closes, AlienVault will be a key part of
AT&T's Edge-to-Edge IntelligenceSM capabilities,
spanning from the core of a company's network to all endpoints, to
reveal actionable intelligence in near-real time.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is not expected to
have a material effect on AT&T's results. And it does not
change the company's plans to reduce its
net-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA ratio to the 2.5x range by the end of
the first year after the close of Time Warner and to its historical
range by the end of the fourth year after close.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of
2018. The completion of this transaction is subject to customary
closing conditions. Until the transaction closes, each company will
continue to operate independently.
1 2017 State of SMB Cybersecurity Report,
sponsored by Keeper Security and conducted by the Ponemon
Institute.
2 IDC's MarketScape Managed Security Services 2017
Vendor Assessment.
*About AT&T Communications
We help family, friends
and neighbors connect in meaningful ways every day. From the first
phone call 140+ years ago to mobile video streaming, we innovate to
improve lives. We have the nation's largest and most reliable
network and the nation's best network for video streaming.** We're
building FirstNet just for first responders and creating
next-generation mobile 5G. With DIRECTV and DIRECTV NOW, we deliver
entertainment people love to talk about. Our smart, highly secure
solutions serve over 3 million global businesses – nearly all of
the Fortune 1000. And worldwide, our spirit of service drives
employees to give back to their communities.
AT&T Communications is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Learn
more at att.com/CommunicationsNews.
AT&T products and services are provided or offered by
subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T
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Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking
Statements
Information set forth in this news release contains financial
estimates and other forward-looking statements that are subject to
risks and uncertainties, and actual results might differ
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SOURCE AT&T Inc.