Palo Alto Networks to acquire Evident.io

Palo Alto Networks, one of the largest companies in its sector, is planning to acquire cloud security company Evident.io. 

The companies say they have reached a “definitive agreement” and that Palo Alto Networks will pay $300 million to acquire Evident.

The deal is expected to be completed in the final quarter of Palo Alto Networks' fiscal year and will see Evident's co-founders, Tim Prendergast and Justin Lundy, join Palo Alto Networks.

Palo Alto Networks is apparently buying Evident to strengthen its cloud security business, even though it has a range of security tools of its own.

Palo Alto Networks' cloud security offerings include cloud security through a combination of its VM-Series virtualised next-generation firewalls for inline cloud security, API-based security for public cloud services infrastructure, and Traps for host-based protections.

Palo Alto says Evident's software will extend its own API-based security capabilities and will enable cloud customers to ensure their deployments are “secure and achieve a continuous state of compliance”, says the company.

The solution does this by “analysing the configurations of all the services and account settings against strict security and compliance controls”, says Palo Alto.

Palo Alto says Evident will enable it to offer a cloud security that will enable customers to use a single approach to continuous monitoring, storage security, and compliance validation and reporting.

Mark McLaughlin, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, says: “"We believe enterprises will become even more cloud-centric in the future and require prevention methods that have been designed for the cloud.

“With Evident as part of our platform, Palo Alto Networks will be the only vendor that can deliver a holistic cloud offering to address the critical security needs of today's enterprise customers as they journey to the cloud.”

Tim Prendergast, co-founder and CEO of Evident.io, says: “Justin and I are delighted to join the Palo Alto Networks team.

“We founded Evident.io to secure our customers' public cloud infrastructure and services without slowing down innovation.

“The combined capabilities of Evident.io and Palo Alto Networks will provide customers the confidence they need to run better, faster, and more securely in the cloud.”