Fortinet Beefing Up Cloud Security with Lacework Acquisition

Fortinet is acquiring Lacework to add the company’s AI-powered cloud security platform to the Fortinet Security Fabric.

Lacework integrates all critical cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) services. The vendor provides AI and machine learning (ML) technology, data collection, a proprietary data lake and a code security offering. Lacework counts almost 1,000 customers in is base.

Fortinet isn’t disclosing financial details of the acquisition, which should close in the second half of 2024.

Ken McCray, Fortinet’s vice president of channel sales, said the acquisition will strengthen Fortinet’s position in the high-growth CNAPP market and "enhance our existing cloud security offerings."

Fortinet's Ken McCray

"We see this as a significant opportunity for our partners because it will enable them to engage more deeply in their customers’ digital innovation journey – from code to cloud," he said. "From Fortinet’s perspective, we will be even better positioned to deliver consistent security across on-premises and cloud environments. This only strengthens our partners’ role as trusted advisors to customers and helps them continue to deliver real solutions that help plan and implement security for both data center and cloud initiatives."

The acquisition will allow partners to expand opportunities into the high-growth CNAPP market, and take advantage of the growth in cloud migration and the need for a purpose-built cloud-native platform to secure cloud-native environments, McCray said.

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Full-Stack AI-Driven Cloud Security Platform

Fortinet Security Fabric is an integrated cybersecurity platform that spans secure networking, AI-driven security operations, and unified secure access service edge (SASE), which includes access and cloud security.

Fortinet plans to integrate Lacework’s CNAPP solution into its existing portfolio, forming “one of the most comprehensive, full stack AI-driven cloud security platforms available from a single vendor,” the company said. This will help customers identify, prioritize and remediate risks and threats in complex cloud-native infrastructure from code to cloud.

"We believe the combination will give our partners an offering no other vendor can deliver," McCray said.

'Seamless Transition' for Lacework Partners, Customers

Fortinet said this strategic acquisition aligns with its growth strategy and underscores the company’s “commitment to innovation and integration.”

"As part of the acquisition, we're committed to a seamless transition for Lacework customers and partners," McCray said. "Backed by Fortinet’s proven industry leadership and expertise, Lacework partners and customers will benefit from access to Fortinet’s global reach, scale and resources."

“Lacework, partnering closely with our customers, has built a world-class solution to the most complex and varied cloud cyber risks and threats,” said Jay Parikh, Lacework’s CEO. “Our vision to connect across security silos enables teams to work together to produce better security outcomes more quickly. Integrated into Fortinet’s platform, we can more deeply embrace these customers to truly solve for their end-to-end security challenges.”

Fortinet 'Notorious Bargain-Basement Shopper'

Rik Turner, senior principal analyst with Omdia, which shares a parent company with Channel Futures (Informa), said Fortinet is a "notorious bargain-basement shopper," so it makes sense that it would be the one to pick up "poor old Lacework for what I imagine of its erstwhile valuation."

"I think of Fortinet not as a trailblazer, but as a (reasonably) fast follower in cybersecurity, usually making a move like this anywhere between 18 months and two years behind someone like Palo Alto Networks," he said. "Buying Lacework clearly fills out their portfolio further, but it doesn’t push them into the forefront. But then this wasn’t designed to do that, just shorten the distance between them and the leader pack. Is Lacework gaining from this? Well yes, in that they’ve been hawking themselves around the market for awhile and this gives them (i.e. their technology and presumably a subset of their employees) the chance to survive longer into the future. I don’t see any major downside. As I say, I never think of Fortinet as forging ahead where the rest of the industry will follow, but that is not their business model. I think they’re quite content to occupy the position they’re in and to do so at a fraction of the cost that other vendors that buy earlier have to pay."