Interesting acquisition news in security Thursday: F5 has announced intent to acquire fraud protection platform Shape Security for $1 billion USD in an all cash deal.
- Shape evaluates the data flow into applications to discern good traffic from bad, defending web and mobile apps from malicious automated attacks. Sits in front of web and mobile app to detect and protect against automated bot attacks.
- F5 has made a big name for itself in app protection across on-prem to multi-cloud with services and platforms to address load balancing, DNS services, web application firewalls (WAF), bot management, SSL visibility, identity and access federation, and DDoS mitigation.
- Shape, once thought to be eyeing an IPO after a healthy Q3 funding bump, brings an impressive client roster across large banks, airlines, government and retail
- F5 President and CEO, François Locoh-Donou said, via press release, that the move enables F5 to protect apps from “code to customer”
Why Shape Intrigues Me:
- Positioned itself as looking beyond fraud detection and security – positioned security as an extension of customer experience friction resolution, removing the headache of constant login requests.
- Been in the mix pushing the password-free experience, envisioning a world where passwords and logins are not needed thanks to proactive, real-time, intentional traffic detection and resolution
- Their machine learning powered platform has effectively identified attack patterns and identified appropriate countermeasures…but their AI is learning what will likely come next for more proactive threat prediction making it a very interesting offer in the ever-evolving threat landscape. For me THIS is the exciting part of the acquisition, integrating the AI/ML model across the F5 platform, to apply some cognitive fire power.
Last Thoughts:
- This sits in-line with industry trend of protect & detect from boot to edge as organizations like Palo Alto and now F5 are expanding their portfolio to provide enterprise customers with a far more comprehensive solution across all attack surfaces
- While this conversation starts in security and fraud, the real gold here could be in advancing identity and a login-less user experience purpose built for both experience and security that drives revenue. BUT…it will require a mindset shift for organizations to understand that security and experience by design is a revenue driver.
- Look for a feeding frenzy on AI powered security platforms in 2020. This isn’t the last unicorn we see race to the top carrying big bags of cash.