Microsoft Agrees To Buy Cybersecurity Firm RiskIQ For $500M: Report

Microsoft Corp MSFT will pay more than $500 million in cash to buy San Francisco cybersecurity software company RiskIQ, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

What Happened: The privately-held RiskIQ makes software for detecting online security threats that can be used by corporate networks and devices to safeguard their data from cyber-attacks.

The development comes close on the heels of Microsoft buying ReFirm Labs, a maker of Internet of Things firmware security. The tech giant has been making attempts to offer more products and services to protect customer data amid increasing cyber-attacks globally.

See Also: Microsoft Joins Apple In The $2T Valuation Club

The Satya Nadella-led company has been adding security features to products such as  Windows and Azure cloud services to protect individual machines and detect attacks on networks. Microsoft also has a dedicated unit called the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center that closely tracks nation-state hackers.

Why It Matters: A rising number of cyberattacks in the recent past, including the infamous SolarWinds hack, have put U.S. companies and the government on the edge, pushing them to spend billions to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses.

The recent cyberattacks on The Colonial Pipeline Co and Brazilian meat-packing company JBS Sa JBSAY, forced the companies to halt operations. 

Bank of America Corp BAC last month beefed up its cybersecurity spending to over $1 billion annually from $300 million to $400 million after eleven and a half years following multiple cyber-attacks. 

Price Action: Microsoft shares closed 0.19% lower at $277.94 on Friday.

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Photo by efes on Wikimedia