Microsoft acquires privileged access firm CloudKnox Security

The buy follows the tech giant’s recent acquisitions in a bid to beef up its security offering

Microsoft has ramped up its privileged access management services with the purchase of California-based CloudKnox Security.

Details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

The vendor said, as organisations adapt to hybrid work with more cloud services being deployed, new service entities that collaborate and exchange data without human interaction, such as virtual machines and containers, are proliferating.

It added these organisations still struggle to assess, prevent, enforce and govern privileged access across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, and that this latest buy strengthens Microsoft's approach to cloud security.

CloudKnox Security bills itself as a leader in Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM).

It claims its services helps organisations right-size permissions and enforce least-privilege principles to reduce risk, and employs continuous analytics to help prevent security breaches and ensure compliance.

The CIEM startup has raised around $22m (€18m) funding so far this year.

Microsoft said the addition of CloudKnox further enables Microsoft Azure Active Directory customers with granular visibility, continuous monitoring and automated remediation for hybrid and multi-cloud permissions.

"Our acquisition of CloudKnox, like our recent acquisition announcements on RiskIQ and ReFirm Labs, shows our focus and execution in acquiring, integrating and expanding the strongest defenses for our customers — from chip to cloud — backed by more than 3,500 defenders at Microsoft and the more than 8 trillion security signals we process every day," said Microsoft Identity corporate VP, Joy Chik in a blog post.

"Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help empower and defend the future of hybrid work and multi-cloud environments, providing essential visibility, control and monitoring Zero Trust demands."

The tech giant snapped up global threat intelligence and attack surface management firm RiskIQ earlier this month.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, however reports from Bloomberg value the transaction at more than $500m (€422m).