Dell to sell RSA to private equity group for $2 billion

The deal includes ownership of the annual conference held in San Francisco.

RSA will soon have a new parent company.

Dell Technologies said Tuesday it intends to sell RSA, a security vendor known for its access management, fraud prevention and threat detection offerings, to a consortium led by private equity firm Symphony Technologies Group. The two sides have entered into a “definitive agreement” for an all-cash transaction worth $2.075 billion, Dell said in a statement Tuesday.

The deal was first reported Sunday by the Wall Street Journal.

The deal includes products and services including RSA Archer, RSA NetWitness Platform RSA SecurID, RSA Fraud and Risk Intelligence and the RSA Conference, a large security conference scheduled to hold its 2020 event starting Feb. 25 in San Francisco.

Symphony Technology Group entered the security industry last year, with its acquisition of a majority stake in the risk scoring company RedSeal for a reported $70 million. Other investors in RSA include the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and AlpInvest Partners, another private equity asset manager.

During an interview last year, Rohit Ghai, president of RSA Security, said the company was exploring partnerships that would allow the company to integrate new technology into RSA’s software tools. Other security executives repeatedly have said that, as large vendors race to offer new software and attract new customers, the ability to raise money is essential. RSA may now have access to funds from a private equity banker to increase its sales (the company has more than 12,500 customers now).

“[STG] fully supports our vision, and with a more independent configuration, we expect to be in an even better position to accelerate innovation, ensure customer success with our portfolio of on-prem and cloud solutions, and expand our opportunities for our partner ecosystem,” Ghai said in a statement Tuesday.

Another private equity firm, Advent International, said earlier this month announced its intention to acquire Forescout Technologies for $1.9 billion in cash. Before that, LogMeIn, the parent company behind the password management company LastPass, agreed to be acquired by two private equity firms for $4.3 billion, and Thoma Bravo said in October it would spend $3.8 billion for Sophos.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Technology

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure