Booz Allen Hamilton seeks to boost commercial cybersecurity service with new acquisition of startup

Management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton is acquiring Morphick, a small, Cincinnati based cybersecurity company that developed a digital platform for threat detection, breach investigation and response.

Management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton is acquiring Morphick, a small, Cincinnati-based cybersecurity firm which has developed a digital platform for threat detection, breach investigation and response.

Booz Allen Hamilton announced the agreement to purchase Morphick in a press release on Friday, saying the acquisition will bolster the cybersecurity profile available to clients. Company executives explained that the acquisition will complement existing cybersecurity services already provided by Booz Allen Hamilton.

“The addition of the Morphick team and technology further solidifies the firm’s ability to solve increasingly advanced cyber challenges,” said Booz Allen Hamilton President and CEO Horacio Rozanski.

The consulting giant already offers threat intelligence products through another service called Cyber4Sight.

Morphick, a firm of about 40 people, sells a managed detection and response service, which can provide “organizations with the ability to effectively detect and remediate cyber attacks of all types; ranging from zero-day exploits and privilege escalation to ransomware,” according to its website.

“Morphick’s technology and team expand Booz Allen’s managed security portfolio and strengthen the firm’s capability around detection and mitigation of the advanced cyber threat, thereby enabling our customers to amplify their threat defenses against attackers who are growing in sophistication and capabilities,” Bill Phelps, Booz Allen Hamilton’s head of U.S. commerical business, said in a statement.

The sale’s financial details were not disclosed.

The deal is expected to close in the the third quarter of the 2018 fiscal year. The acquisition will begin with Morphick supporting Booz Allen Hamilton’s commercial clients before expanding its role to other, new contracts.

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