Google Cloud Acquires SOAR Provider Siemplify for $500 Million

Google Cloud is further beefing up its security capabilities by reportedly shelling out $500 million for Siemplify, an Israeli security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) provider.

Google Cloud plans to invest in SOAR capabilities with Siemplify cloud services as its foundation. Moreover, Google Cloud plans to integrate Siemplify’s capabilities into its Chronicle cloud service.

‘Great Move’ For Both Vendors

Eric Parizo is principal analyst of Omdia’s cybersecurity operations intelligence service. (Omdia and Channel Futures share a parent company, Informa.) He said the acquisition is a “really a great move” for both Google Cloud and Siemplify.

Omdia’s Eric Parizo

“For Google Cloud, the purchase provides strong overall SOAR capabilities, [and] notable response automation, which instantly gives Google Cloud relatively mature technology to power its efforts to become a full-featured provider of threat detection, investigation and response (TDIR) capabilities for enterprises,” he said. “Today, its Google Chronicle solution is excellent at taking in threat data and conducting rapid real-time, rules-based detection. But it has a ways to go in several key areas, including analytics-based detection, event prioritization and threat response. Siemplify can help in all of these areas, but obviously response especially.”

Siemplify had done all it could on its own, Parizo said. However, it was challenged to increase its total addressable market without taking on massive new debt.

“The vendor had been reluctant to move into threat intelligence, or into extended detection and response (XDR), leaving few good options,” he said. “Omdia understands its strategy to increase its partnerships with MSSPs and develop new business opportunities in areas like business intelligence and crisis communications had met with mixed results.”

Few Pure-Play SOAR Vendors Left

Consider that Siemplify is one of the last pure-play SOAR vendors, the acquisition clearly signals the beginning of the end for SOAR as a viable standalone market segment, Parizo said.

“Going forward, SOAR will primarily be a feature within broader next-generation security information and event management (SIEM) platforms,” he said.

Sunil Potti is vice president and general manager of Google Cloud Security.

Google Cloud’s Sunil Potti

“In a time when cyberattacks are rapidly growing in both frequency and sophistication, there’s never been a better time to bring these two companies together,” he said. “We both share the belief that security analysts need to be able to solve more incidents with greater complexity while requiring less effort and less specialized knowledge. With Siemplify, we will change the rules on how organizations hunt, detect, and respond to threats.”

The Siemplify platform allows security teams to both manage risk better and reduce the cost of addressing threats, Potti said. It also helps improve SOC performance. It does so by reducing caseloads, raising analyst productivity, and creating better visibility across workflows.

Important Milestone in Siemplify’s Journey

Amos Stern is Siemplify’s CEO and co-founder. He said the acquisition marks an “important milestone in the Siemplify journey.”

Siemplify’s Amos Stern

“When co-founders Alon Cohen and Garry Fatakhov and I started Siemplify in 2015, we all knew, from our experience building and training SOCs from around the world, that security operations was a function in dire need of innovation,” he said.

SOAR as a category didn’t exist yet, Stern said. Siemplify focused on building a security operations platform that improves the way security teams respond to cyber threats.

Google Cloud in August committed to investing $10 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years, Stern said.

“We could not be more excited to join forces with Google Cloud to drive innovation and help many more security teams take their operations to a whole new level,” he said. “We want to thank our customers and partners for their ongoing business and trust in our team. With Google Cloud’s commitments to delivering an open ecosystem, minimizing vendor lock-in and leveraging best-in-breed solutions, as well as its support for multicloud environments, we truly believe that together we will deliver more innovation while staying true to our values.”

Escalating Demand For SOAR

James Brear is CEO of Swimlane, a low-code security automation company. He said the acquisition of Siemplify is a testament to the escalating demand for security automation and SOAR.

“What Google realizes is that no matter how many security tools a company buys and how many security specialists they hire, they still need to anchor those investments around a security automation system-of-record that can chew through the noise and trigger the appropriate action in a matter of seconds,” he said.