Microsoft acquiring RiskIQ as threats on cybersecurity escalates

Microsoft revealed on Monday, July 12, that it will acquire RiskIQ, a cyber security company based in San Francisco, California. The announcement comes as ransomware and cyber attacks have become rampant lately.

Microsoft is teaming up with RiskIQ so it can better protect the company and its systems from attacks as well as offer safe services to its customers. The tech firm added that the acquisition will also help their customers in dealing with the risks of cyber attacks when doing their work remotely and when they rely on cloud computing.

Microsoft’s new acquisition and RiskIQ’s promise

As noted on CNN Business, the software from RiskIQ allows companies or groups to monitor their entire networks. This means that they can keep watch on their operations that are running on different cloud providers. This will help companies know and reduce potential risks.

“The vision and mission of RiskIQ is to provide unmatched internet visibility and insights to better protect and inform our customers and partners’ security programs,” Elias Manousos, RiskIQ co-founder and chief executive officer said in a blog post that was published on Microsoft’s webpage on July 12.

He added, “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.”

Other benefits from Microsoft's new acquisition

Previously, Microsoft faced cybersecurity issues and one example was the breach on its Exchange email service that was carried out by Hafnium, a Chinese-linked group. The cyber break-in potentially exposed the data of thousands of states, academic institutions, local governments, businesses and more.

There is also a string of ransomware attacks these days and these incidents pushed Microsoft to strengthen its cybersecurity to protect the company and the customers alike. CNBC noted that the RiskIQ acquisition deal will also help the company expand its security business which is said to be growing.

In any case, Microsoft declined to share the financial terms of the deal. However, some media reported that it could have shelled out more than $500 million to buy RiskIQ