Cloud Security , Identity & Access Management , Security Operations
Silverfort Buys Rezonate to Fortify Identity Security Muscle
Comprehensive Identity Security Platform Expands Protection to Cloud, On-PremisesSilverfort has purchased a cloud identity startup led by Israel's former chief of global cyber defense operations to better protect both human and non-human identities.
See Also: 2024 Threat Hunting Report: Insights to Outsmart Modern Adversaries
The Boston-based identity security startup said its acquisition of Boston-based Rezonate will enhance security and operational efficiency for enterprises while reducing costs associated with multiple siloed solutions, according to co-founder and CEO Hed Kovetz. He said Rezonate's architecture, team expertise and breadth of cloud security coverage align well with Silverfort's existing on-premises security skills.
"What we loved about Rezonate is that they have one of the broadest offerings in that space," Kovetz told Information Security Media Group. "Although a pretty young company, they built a very impressive product very fast. It protects identities in all cloud environments. Cloud identity providers like Okta, cloud infrastructure like AWS and Azure, and even SaaS applications like Slack or Snowflake."
The Perks of Consolidating On-Premises, Cloud Data Processing
Rezonate, founded in 2022, employs 20 people and emerged from stealth 23 months ago with a $8.7 million seed funding round led by State of Mind Ventures and Flybridge. The firm has been led since inception by Roy Akerman, who previously ran Israel's global cyber defense operations and led product and incubation at Cybereason. Kovetz said Silverfort paid "tens of millions of dollars" for Rezonate (see: Silverfort Plans Platform Expansion With $116M Funding Round).
Acquiring Rezonate will expand Silverfort's capabilities in cloud identity security to create an integrated, end-to-end identity protection platform, according to Rezonate. Kovetz said the company's ability to secure various cloud environments - AWS, Azure and SaaS applications - will be complementary to Silverfort's existing on-premises protection, creating a comprehensive identity security solution.
"How do we achieve this vision of an end-to-end identity security platform that will protect every asset that every enterprise has?" Kovetz asked. "We figured that a way to accelerate that journey would be to find a company that really has a strong solution for protecting cloud identities, and add that to our platform to create a truly balanced platform. So, the idea is that this will really address all of that."
The integration with Rezonate will be Silverfort's main focus in the coming months, Kovetz said, with the company aiming to deliver a unified platform by mid-2025. The integration will not only unify the front-end interface but will also consolidate back-end data processing, Kovetz said, helping Silverfort identify and respond to threats sooner across both on-premises and cloud environments.
"It's about taking the actual data and back-end capabilities and combining them so that you can look at threats across the board," Kovetz said. "If a malicious user is trying to access one thing in the cloud and one thing on-prem and one thing in another cloud, we want to understand that that is the problem today."
The integration of Rezonate will enable Silverfort to provide more robust identity security through consolidated data processing, enabling it to detect threats across all identity silos, Kovetz said. This approach reduces deployment complexity, operational costs and the need for multiple identity security products, according to Kovetz.
"You can no longer tweak the security controls by going to the window if the door is locked," Kovetz said. "If Okta is blocked, you can't just go to another identity. We have full visibility of all that context so we can protect organizations better. A lot of data breaches involved attackers trying to go to different environments and taking advantage of the fact that those are analyzed in silos. We solve that."
What Sets Rezonate's Approach to Identity Security Apart
Securing cloud and on-premises identities is quite different, with the former focused on connecting fragmented environments like AWS and Google and the later focused on the lack of modern security features in legacy systems. Silverfort initially focused on on-premises security due to the vulnerabilities in older infrastructure, but is now expanding into cloud security through the Rezonate acquisition.
"The challenge is that those on-prem systems don't have any modern security controls at all," Kovetz said. "The challenge on-prem is not the friction of identity solutions. It's the fact that these old identity solutions don't have security. We chose to start there because, while some companies are looking at the cloud, we felt that for most organizations, there was a huge problem on-prem."
Rezonate's modern, scalable design, robust security features, and successful threat visibility set the company apart and align with Silverfort's high standards for cloud identity security, according to Kovetz. He said Rezonate's architecture, technical team expertise and unique market offerings enhance the breadth and flexibility of Silverfort's security solutions.
"They have a team of people that came from very deep cybersecurity backgrounds," Kovetz said. "Some of them are working cyber defense for governments. Some of them are working for the leading cybersecurity vendors. They truly understand identity threats in the cloud. And so that was a big advantage, just getting those people that have that knowledge and can help stay ahead of the market."
By integrating Rezonate, Silverfort aims to simplify security management and cut costs for customers who currently rely on separate solutions for on-premises and cloud identity security, Kovetz said. The firm will track product adoption, expansion within existing client accounts, and any boost in average customer spending to measure the success of the acquisition, with results expected in the back half of 2025.
"Today, customers need to do different effort to protect their identities in each of these environments," Kovetz said. "It's a different implementation. It's a different administration. Here, you'll just have one product that you install within hours, and it will just protect your entire stack."
Kovetz views the Rezonate acquisition as the beginning of a long-term strategy to expand Silverfort's market leadership through acquisitions. While the integration of Rezonate is the current priority, Kovetz said Silverfort intends to explore additional acquisitions in the future to become the consolidator in the identity security market.
"We want to make sure that we learn and we do properly before we take the next adventure," Kovetz said. "But I think that over time, we want to become the market leader, and that means becoming the consolidator of this market."