Microsoft acquires RiskIQ to boost hybrid work cybersecurity

Microsoft has acquired RiskIQ, a leader in global threat intelligence and attack surface management, in an effort to improve hybrid work cybersecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the workforce, leading many organizations to speed up their remote and hybrid work strategies. Despite the advantages of this approach, cybersecurity can pose additional challenges as people work remotely, often using their personal devices and computers.

“With more than a decade of experience scanning and analysing the internet, RiskIQ can help enterprises identify and remediate vulnerable assets before an attacker can capitalise on them,” said Eric Doerr, Vice President, Cloud Security at Microsoft.

RiskIQ offers a cloud-based SaaS cybersecurity platform. It helps companies provide security beyond the firewall, analyzing and assessing the overall attack surface of the entire organization. This includes cloud resources of a company, supply chains and on-premise resources.

Elias Manousos, RiskIQ cofounder and CEO, said, “We’re thrilled to add RiskIQ’s Attack Surface and Threat Intelligence solutions to the Microsoft Security portfolio, extending and accelerating our impact. Our combined capabilities will enable best-in-class protection, investigations, and response against today’s threats.”

The tech giant has been enhancing its security tools amid serious cyber attacks on its network via third-party vendors like SolarWinds.

Last month, Microsoft acquired ReFirm Labs to help protect servers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices from cyber attacks.