Wikipedia

Sophos

For other uses, seeSophos (disambiguation).

Sophos Ltd.is a Britishsecurity softwareandhardwarecompany. It develops and marketsmanaged security servicesand cybersecurity software and hardware, such asmanaged detection and response,incident response and endpoint security software.[4][5]Sophos was listed on theLondon Stock Exchangeuntil it was acquired byThoma Bravoin March 2020.[6]

Sophos Ltd.
Company typePrivate
IndustryComputer software
Founded1985;39 years ago(1985)
Founder
  • Jan Hruska
  • Peter Lammer
HeadquartersAbingdon,England
Key people
ProductsSecurity software
ServicesComputer security
Revenue$1 billion (2023)
US$109 million (2019)
US$26.9 million (2019)
OwnerThoma Bravo
Number of employees
4,400 (2022)
Websitewww.sophosEdit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3]

History

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Sophos was founded by Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer and began producing its first antivirus and encryption products in 1985.[7]During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Sophos primarily developed and sold a range of security technologies in theUK,including encryption tools available for most users (private or business). In the late 1990s, Sophos concentrated its efforts on developing and selling antivirus technology and embarked on a program of international expansion.[8]

In 2010, the majority interest of Sophos was sold toApax Partners.[9]

In 2011, Utimaco Safeware AG (acquired by Sophos in 2008) was accused of supplying data monitoring and tracking software to partners that have sold to governments such as Syria.[citation needed]Sophos issued a statement of apology and confirmed that they had suspended their relationship with the partners in question and launched an investigation.[10]

In June 2015, Sophos announced plans to raise US$100 million on the London Stock Exchange.[11]Sophos was floated on the FTSE in September 2015.[12]

On 14 October 2019, Sophos announced thatThoma Bravo,a US-based private equity firm, made an offer to acquire Sophos for US$7.40 per share, representing an enterprise value of approximately US$3.9 billion. The board of directors of Sophos stated their intention to recommend the offer to the company's shareholders unanimously.[13]On 2 March 2020, Sophos announced the completion of the acquisition.[14]

In February 2024, President Joe Levy was appointed acting CEO after Kris Hagerman resigned from the CEO position.[15][16]Mr. Levy was named the permanent CEO in May 2024.[17]

In October 2024,Wiredreported that the company had been targeted for years by hackers affiliated with theUniversity of Electronic Science and Technology of Chinaand Sichuan Silence Information Technology, a company associated with China'sMinistry of Public Security.[18][19]Others attributed the attacks to Chineseadvanced persistent threatssuch asAPT41,APT31,andVolt Typhoon.[20]TheFederal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) asked for the public's help in identifying the attackers.[20]

Acquisitions and partnerships

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In 2003, Sophos acquiredActiveState,aCanadiansoftware company that developed anti-spam software.[21]From September 2003 to February 2006, Sophos served as the parent company ofActiveState,a developer of programming tools fordynamic programming languages:in February 2006, ActiveState became an independent company when it was sold toVancouver-basedventure capitalistfirm Pender Financial.[22]

In 2007, Sophos acquired ENDFORCE, a company based inOhio,United States, which developed and sold security policy compliance andnetwork access control(NAC) software.[23][24]

In July 2008, Sophos agreed to acquireUtimaco,a publicly-held company focused onencryptionand otherdata securityproducts, for over $340 million;[25]the acquisition closed for $314 million in September 2008.[26]In October 2013, Utimaco was divested via a management buyout involving investors PINOVA Capital andBIP Investment Partners.[27]

In May 2011, Sophos announced the acquisition of Astaro, a privately held provider of network security products, headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA and Karlsruhe, Germany.[28]At the time Astaro was the 4th largest UTM (Unified Threat Management) vendor and while the deal made sense at the time Forbes questioned its viability.[29]Sophos subsequently renamed the Astaro UTM to Sophos UTM.

In February 2014, Sophos announced that it had acquired Cyberoam Technologies, a provider of network security products.[30]

In December 2015, Sophos acquired Surfright, the company behind the malware scanner HitmanPro.[31]

In November 2016, Sophos acquired Barricade, a start-up with a behavior-based analytics engine.[32]

In February 2017, Sophos acquiredInvincea,a software company that provides malware threat detection, prevention, and pre-breach forensic intelligence.[33][34][35]

In October 2024, Sophos agreed to acquireSecureWorks,a publicly-held company majority owned byDellfocused onExtended Detection and Response (XDR),for $859 million; the acquisition is expected to close in early 2025, subject to regulatory approval.[36]

Controversies

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On 31 October 2024, Sophos released it's report about the Operation Pacific Rim which details their actions done against cyber criminals worldwide for the last years.[37]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Annual Report 2019".Sophos. Archived fromthe originalon 16 October 2021.Retrieved16 October2021.
  2. ^Novinson, Michael (18 January 2023)."Sophos to Lay Off 10% of Workers Amid Shift to MDR Services".Bank Info Sedcurity.Archivedfrom the original on 14 November 2023.Retrieved14 November2023.
  3. ^"Sophos is (officially!) a Great Place to Work".8 June 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 16 October 2021.Retrieved16 October2021.
  4. ^Fairfield, C. J. (4 March 2024)."Sophos Exec: Here's How MSPs Can Drive Revenue With Our Products".crn.Retrieved31 March2024.
  5. ^Miletic, Barbara (27 April 2023)."Sophos erweitert seinen globalen MDR-Service".IT-BUSINESS(in German).Retrieved31 March2024.
  6. ^Miller, Ron (2 March 2020)."Thoma Bravo completes $3.9B Sophos acquisition".TechCrunch.Retrieved7 April2020.
  7. ^Cluley, Graham (4 November 2010)."Sophos: the early years".Naked Security.Archived fromthe originalon 30 September 2023.
  8. ^"Exterminator Tools".Windows IT Pro. 15 November 1999.Archivedfrom the original on 19 May 2017.Retrieved24 April2017.
  9. ^Hoffman, Stefanie."Sophos To Sell Majority Stake To Apax Partners | CRN".crn.Retrieved22 October2024.
  10. ^"The Bureau Investigates article".Archived fromthe originalon 4 December 2011.
  11. ^Simmons, Jana (3 June 2015)."Sophos Plans $100 Million London IPO".Wall Street Journal.Archivedfrom the original on 25 April 2017.Retrieved11 March2017.
  12. ^"Sophos joins the UK's top public companies in the FTSE 250".23 September 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 6 August 2020.Retrieved18 January2020.
  13. ^"Sophos founders exit before Thoma Bravo sale".Global Capital. 5 December 2019.Archivedfrom the original on 25 February 2020.Retrieved25 February2020.
  14. ^"Sophos opens new chapter with take-private acquisition".2 March 2020.Archivedfrom the original on 2 March 2020.Retrieved2 March2020.
  15. ^Alspach, Kyle."5 Things To Know About The Sophos CEO Transition".CRN.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2024.Retrieved28 February2024.
  16. ^Alspach, Kyle (15 February 2024)."Sophos CEO Kris Hagerman Steps Down, Acting CEO Named".CRN.Retrieved4 September2024.
  17. ^Alspach, Kyle (20 May 2024)."Sophos Names Joe Levy As Permanent CEO, Hires New CFO".CRN.Retrieved21 October2024.
  18. ^Greenberg, Andy(31 October 2024)."Inside a Firewall Vendor's 5-Year War with the Chinese Hackers Hijacking Its Devices".Wired.Retrieved5 November2024.
  19. ^"Facebook uncovers Chinese network behind fake expert".BBC News.2 December 2021.Retrieved5 November2024.
  20. ^abArghire, Ionut (4 November 2024)."FBI Seeking Information on Chinese Hackers Targeting Sophos Firewalls".Security Week.Retrieved10 November2024.
  21. ^"Sophos acquires anti-spam specialist ActiveState".sophos.Archivedfrom the original on 4 March 2016.Retrieved3 January2016.
  22. ^"ActiveState Acquired by Employees and Pender Financial Group; Company Renews Focus on Tools and Solutions for Dynamic Languages".Business Wire. 22 February 2006.Archivedfrom the original on 25 April 2017.Retrieved24 April2017.
  23. ^"Sophos buys Endforce for network access control".Network World. 11 January 2007. Archived fromthe originalon 26 April 2017.Retrieved24 April2017.
  24. ^Wauters, Robin."Sophos beefs up on online security, acquires Dutch security software firm SurfRight for $31.8 million".Archivedfrom the original on 29 August 2016.Retrieved2 August2016.
  25. ^"Sophos makes move to buy Utimaco".Virus Bulletin.28 July 2008.Retrieved21 October2024.
  26. ^McMillan, Robert (30 September 2008)."Sophos concludes $314 million Utimaco buy".NetworkWorld.Retrieved21 October2024.
  27. ^"PINOVA Capital and BIP Investment Partners acquire Utimaco Safeware AG in a buyout transaction".Merkur.16 October 2013.Retrieved21 October2024.
  28. ^"Sophos Acquires Astaro to Meet Demand for Complete, Layered Security Protection".sophos.Archivedfrom the original on 15 July 2021.Retrieved15 July2021.
  29. ^Stiennon, Richard."Sophos + Astaro: Good companies, bad deal".Forbes.Archivedfrom the original on 20 July 2023.Retrieved15 July2021.
  30. ^"Sophos Acquires Cyberoam to Boost Layered Defense Portfolio".Infosecurity Magazine.12 February 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 13 May 2016.Retrieved13 May2016.
  31. ^Aldershoff, Jan Willem (14 December 2015)."Company behind anti-malware software HitmanPro sold to Sophos for €30 million".MYCE.Archivedfrom the original on 28 October 2021.Retrieved1 January2024.
  32. ^"Sophos acquires Irish cybersecurity start-up Barricade".The Irish Times.Retrieved4 September2024.
  33. ^"Sophos Adds Advanced Machine Learning to Its Next-Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio with Acquisition of Invincea".Sophos. 8 February 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 23 April 2020.Retrieved11 February2017.
  34. ^"Sophos grows anti-malware ensemble with Invincea".Sophos. 8 February 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 10 February 2017.Retrieved11 February2017.One may ask, if you already have great next-generation technology, why do you need Invincea's technology?...Think of Invincea as the superhero that takes our ensemble to the next level – the entity that adds neural network-based machine learning to the team.
  35. ^"Sophos to Acquire Invincea to Add Industry Leading Machine Learning to its Next Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio".Invincea.8 February 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 8 August 2017.Retrieved11 February2017.
  36. ^Warminsky, Joe (21 October 2024)."Sophos to acquire Secureworks for $859 million".The Record.Retrieved21 October2024.
  37. ^"Sophos' Pacific Rim: Defense Against Nation-State Adversaries".sophos.Sophos.
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