Forescout Acquires Healthcare IoT Security Startup CyberMDX

‘We really know that we need to have a deep insight into medical devices and high-fidelity information so we can act upon it in a high-confidence way,’ Forescout CEO Wael Mohamed tells CRN.

Forescout has purchased early-stage healthcare security vendor CyberMDX in a push to become the global leader in safeguarding Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices.

The San Jose, Calif.-based Internet of Things security vendor said its buy of New York-based CyberMDX will give Forescout comprehensive visibility into medical devices far more quickly that if the company attempted to build the capability on its own. Forescout’s ability to monitor IT, IoT, OT, and IoMT devices provides the company a leg up in securing a customer’s entire environment, CEO Wael Mohamed said.

“We really know that we need to have a deep insight into medical devices and high-fidelity information so we can act upon it in a high-confidence way,” Mohamed told CRN. “After looking at all the players in the market, we felt that CyberMDX was definitely the top technologically.”

[Related: Forescout Gets New CEO Yet Again, Bringing In Wael Mohamed]

Forescout’s acquisition of CyberMDX closed Monday, and terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed, Mohamed said. CyberMDX employs 50 people, and the company’s entire executive team will be joining Forescout, including Co-Founder and president Amir Magner, who will be leading the company’s healthcare security business, according to Mohamed.

CyberMDX’s ability to integrate into control systems without having to install anything on-site is ideal not only for medical devices but can also be applied to connected cars and 5G as the edge becomes reality, Mohamed said. The company is the market leader when it comes to device discovery in the healthcare space and can identity biomedical or very specialized devices with unique fingerprints.

“It‘s bigger than anything we could do on our own,” Mohamed said. “We did not have the runway to be able to build it ourselves. So having this as a part of our platform can definitely help us serve our customers better.”

Forescout’s acquisition of CyberMDX comes less than two months after competitor Claroty bought healthcare IoT security startup Medigate for $400 million to offer robust protection to hospitals and life sciences firms spanning both industrial systems and medical devices. Mohamed said Forescout has an advantage offer Claroty due to its two decades of experience protecting IT, IoT and managed devices.

“Customers need all the pillars to be covered, and it‘s going to be very difficult for them to cover the other pillars that we’re already leaders at,” Mohamed said.

CyberMDX is available to channel partners today on a standalone basis and will be bundled into Forescout’s bundle within the next 60 days, Mohamed said. The company has partnerships with device manufacturers but hadn’t yet started building out a channel when acquisition talks with Forescout commenced, according to Mohamed.

Channel partners will have the opportunity to wrap services around CyberMDX’s technology that take the complexity away and make it seamless and easy to manage, Mohamed said. Solution providers looking to add value around CyberMDX will need a high degree of sophistication and knowledge around medical devices given how specialized some of the equipment can be, according to Mohamed.

“We acquired the best of breed technology, and we already have a very large platform, a big install base, a very strong established channel, and a very strong sales team,” Mohamed said. “With this best of breed technology, we are committed collectively to making this the number one when it comes to [IoMT] revenue.”