BlackBerry may acquire Cylance for about $1.5 billion, though buyout talks for the artificial intelligence-driven cybersecurity software company could still fall apart, according to a BusinessInsider report.
Updated Friday, November 16, 2018, 8:00 a.m. ET: BlackBerry has confirmed the Cylance acquisition.
A deal could be announced as soon as the week of November 12 Business Insider reported citing sources, though the coverage also suggested that no deal may emerge.
Cylance raised $120 million in June 2018, and has been considering an IPO (initial public offering). The company's fiscal year 2018 revenue was more than $130 million, up 90 percent from the previous fiscal year, Cylance has previously disclosed.
Cylance Security Solutions
Cylance cybersecurity solutions portfolio includes a variety of AI-powered products and services, such as:
- CylancePROTECT: Uses AI and machine learning to identify malware before it can execute.
- CylanceOPTICS: Offers AI-driven threat prevention, purpose-built attack mitigation, situational awareness and automated incident response capabilities.
- CylanceV: Leverages the CylanceINFINITY Cloud and AI and machine learning techniques to hunt down threats across an organization or on a single compromised system.
The offerings are particularly popular and effective for detecting and stopping malware that can trigger ransomware attacks.
Cylance and MSPs, MSSPs
Cylance has been very active growing its MSP and MSSP base. Key partnerships in those markets involve ConnectWise, Fujitsu, KPMG and a range of midmarket and small business MSPs. The company was particularly active at this week's ConnectWise IT Connect 2018 conference in Orlando, which attracted more than 3,000 MSPs.
Neither Cylance nor BlackBerry commented on the Business Insider report.
