Sophos moves for managed detection firm Rook Security

Vendor says acquisition will allow it to offer MDR services to the channel

Sophos has acquired US-based Rook Security to provide managed detection and response (MDR) to its channel partners.

Rook was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Indianapolis. Sophos said the acquisition adds to its recent deal for DarkBytes, which was announced in January.

Joe Levy, chief technology officer at Sophos, said: "Cybercriminals are relentlessly trying to exploit organisations with techniques ranging from tried-and-true phishing emails to the more recent trend of ‘hacker pen-testing' to find weaknesses in their surface area.

"As a result, businesses need 24/7 monitoring and management of what is happening on their network, yet many of them do not have the expertise, can't keep up or don't have the security teams in-house to optimally configure and manage security around the clock."

Sophos said that it will integrate Rook Security into its existing solutions and offer its services through its 47,000 channel partners worldwide.

Rook founder and CEO JJ Thompson said: "We are excited to bring our experts and service delivery innovation to Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity.

"Together, we can implement faster, more effective threat detection and response capabilities to better protect businesses."