Deloitte acquires aeCyberSolutions business, as activity picks up in the industrial cybersecurity sector

Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory acquired on Tuesday aeCyberSolutions, the industrial cybersecurity business from Applied Engineering Solutions (aeSolutions). The deal will bolster Deloitte’s existing cybersecurity offerings with aeCyberSolutions’ business frameworks, methodologies and technology-enabled tools for industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) environments. 

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. aeSolutions’ remaining businesses, including its engineering business unit, were not part of the transaction. Deloitte Risk and Financial Advisory, known as Deloitte & Touche LLP, is a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. 

The aeCyberSolutions acquisition will strengthen Deloitte’s cyber services and solutions across the majority of government/public sector and commercial industries, including industrial sector organizations, such as those in oil and gas, chemicals and agricultural chemicals, industrial gases, pulp and paper, and manufacturing.

By acquiring aeCyberSolutions, Deloitte will get access to its professionals, with deep experience in industrial sector standards development and risk advisory services. 

“Acquiring the aeCyberSolutions business’ highly certified, credentialed and experienced security professionals and tech-enabled solutions allows us to hyperscale our offerings to help clients advance their cybersecurity programs for the industrial sector and beyond,” Deborah Golden, Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory Cyber and Strategic Risk leader and principal, Deloitte & Touche LLP, said in a press statement. 

“As industrial organizations digitally transform to adopt more emerging technologies like 5G, the Internet of Things, machine learning and artificial intelligence, our acquisition of the aeCyberSolutions business helps us to offer leading-edge ICS/OT technologies and related advisory services,” said Wendy Frank, Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory Cyber 5G and IoT leader and principal, Deloitte & Touche.

By acquiring the aeCyberSolutions business, Deloitte has made its fifth cyber acquisition this year, as it expands offerings and capabilities to help clients address a range of cyber challenges. In 2021, Deloitte’s cyber acquisitions has included the assets of cyber threat hunting provider Root9B (R9B), cloud security posture management (CSPM) provider CloudQuest, digital risk protection company Terbium Labs, and zero-trust network access (ZTNA) provider TransientX.

The move by Deloitte suggests a consolidation in the industrial cybersecurity sector, which is also seeing fresh new investments. Last month, critical infrastructure protection company OPSWAT purchased all assets of Bayshore Networks to provide CIP capabilities to OT and ICS environments, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition of Bayshore’s assets will add key capabilities in both unidirectional and bidirectional secure data transfer in critical networks, intrusion prevention for industrial devices, and provide secure remote access for OT assets.

Recent months have witnessed mounting cybersecurity threats, brought about by an increase in the number of cybersecurity and ransomware attacks that targeted the industrial infrastructure environments, such as the Colonial Pipeline attack and Florida water supply attack

Apart from acquisitions, the industrial cybersecurity market has secured funding investments. Industrial cybersecurity company Nozomi Networks secured this week a US$100 million pre-IPO funding round that would set the pace for the enhancement of the company’s product portfolio in the evolving OT/IoT security market in industrial and critical infrastructure environments. 

Earlier in June, another industrial cybersecurity vendor Claroty secured ‘the largest investment ever made within the industrial cybersecurity sector,’ with its Series D financial round of US$140 million, taking the company’s total funding to $235 million.

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