Cyxtera Goes On Offensive Against Bad Actors With Proposed Buy Of Vulnerability Assessment Firm Immunity

Security analytics vendor Cyxtera Technology plans to expand beyond its defensive capabilities through its agreement to buy offense-oriented systems vulnerability research firm Immunity.

The Coral Gables, Fla.-based company said its intended acquisition of Miami-based Immunity will give Cyxtera greater access to exploit development and penetration testing services. Cyxtera said it plans to incorporate Immunity's offerings into its expanding portfolio of threat analytics products.

"In the security industry, it's rare that you can blend together offense- and defense-oriented capabilities," Chris Day, Cyxtera's chief cybersecurity officer, said in a statement. "The advantages of combining Immunity's products and services with Cyxtera's portfolio create an opportunity to approach cybersecurity in a truly holistic manner."

[Related: Cyxtera Launches New Global Partner Program Focused On Security]

Terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close this quarter, were not disclosed. Cyxtera didn't immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

Immunity was founded in 2002 and counts the financial sector, Global 2000 companies, and government agencies among its customers. The company was founded by current CEO Dave Aitel and currently employs 37 people, according to LinkedIn.

"We know the team at Cyxtera well and are excited to take this next step to expand our reach and resources," Aitel said in a statement. "We're proud to be joining forces, where our combined capabilities will help Cyxtera further its vision of delivering a secure infrastructure platform."

Immunity's concentration on offense-oriented techniques and technologies distinguished the company from organizations that only attempt to address defensive security postures in their service or product lines, according to Cyxtera. The company also owns and operates Infiltrate, Cyxtera said, the premier annual technical conference focused exclusively on offense and counter-offense security issues.

The company's offerings include Innuendo, an advanced penetration testing tool for modeling data exfiltration attacks; Canvas, an assessment tool that allows penetration testing and hostile attack simulations to be conducted by security professionals; and specialized attack and assessment services including vulnerability analysis, reverse engineering, architecture review and source code review.

Immunity's business lines also offer testing, assessment and consulting services, Cyxtera said, as well as specialized security products designed to aid in the hunt for adversaries.

"They bring a world-renowned team and an exceptional set of capabilities to our organization, which will help us not only extend our existing cybersecurity offerings, but also help harden and augment our entire portfolio and global data center platform," Manuel Medina, Cyxtera's CEO, said in a statement.

Cyxtera's customers will benefit from Immunity's world-class services portfolio, comprehensive suite of offerings, and automated and continuous penetration testing and advanced adversary simulation services, according to the company.

Cyxtera was created in May when private equity firms Medina Capital and BC Partners merged CenturyLink's network of 57 data centers with four cybersecurity and data analytics companies – Cryptzone, Easy Solutions, Catbird and Brainspace – in a $2.8 billion transaction. The idea behind the merger was to further integrate physical data centers with security analytics offerings.

The company in September launched a new partner program designed to bring more security technologies or security training programs to its data center co-location partners. Security allows co-location partners to re-engage with existing clients or offer a higher-margin, differentiated offerings to customers, Tina Gravel, Cyxtera's senior vice president of channels, told CRN in September.