What you need to know
- Microsoft has been acquiring many companies lately.
- Its most recent acquisition is CloudKnox Security.
- This solidifies a string of security-minded purchases from the tech giant.
In case it wasn't clear already, the trend of Microsoft buying up other companies — specifically, security companies — isn't winding down anytime soon. The Windows 11 maker just acquired CloudKnox Security, coming hot off its other recent purchases of RiskIQ and ReFirm. Both of those companies were security-focused buys as well, and the RiskIQ deal specifically emphasized Microsoft's recent focus on bolstering cloud security. It acquiring CloudKnox only reiterates that the cloud is about to get a lot more guarded.
The cost of the acquisition was not disclosed in Microsoft's blog post announcing the deal, but CloudKnox Security's purpose within Microsoft was meticulously outlined. Joy Chik, the corporate vice president of Microsoft Identity, penned the news and gave a thorough overview of how the smaller company will fit within the exponentially bigger company, starting with a brief intro that summarizes Microsoft's goals:
Modern identity security needs to protect all users and resources consistently across multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. Today, Microsoft is taking a significant step toward this goal with the acquisition of CloudKnox Security, a leader in Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM). CloudKnox offers complete visibility into privileged access. It helps organizations right-size permissions and consistently enforce least-privilege principles to reduce risk, and it employs continuous analytics to help prevent security breaches and ensure compliance. This strengthens our comprehensive approach to cloud security.
The post goes on to outline how CloudKnox will help with tasks such as managing privileged access in multi-cloud and hybrid settings via threat assessments and prevention as well as security enforcement and governance. If you want to read more about how the security vendor will fit within Microsoft's grand design, check out the previously linked blog post.
