Security vendors who attempt to compete with Microsoft and Google are just “burning inordinate amounts of capital”, Sophos’ CEO has claimed as he teased its upcoming identity launch.
During a stop in London this week, Joe Levy updated IT Channel Oxygen on the UK-headquartered cybersecurity vendor’s integration of SecureWorks, partnering philosophy and hyperscaler marketplace growth plans.
“I want to make Microsoft better”
Having completed its $958m acquisition of SecureWorks in February, Sophos is now a 5,500-employee giant with annual recurring revenues exceeding $1.5bn.
Sophos’ is “moving at pace” with its integration of SecureWorks, and will draw on the former Dell-backed MDR provider to launch an Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) offering next month, Levy said.
Asked to what extent this move mirrors Palo Alto Networks’ recent planned acquisition of CyberArk, Levy stressed that Sophos’ strategy is to complement rather than compete with Microsoft in the identity space.
“The phrase so many of us have heard now – ‘identity is the new perimeter’ – is absolutely true, and in many cases it becomes the first line of defence or first line of breach for organisations, so identity hygiene is absolutely critical,” Levy said
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to compete with Microsoft and Google. I think it’s a good idea to partner with Microsoft and Google.
“I want to make Entra ID better for [Microsoft]; I want to make Defender better for them. And that’s our strategy.
“I would go further, and say that any company which engages in a zero-sum game with them is probably burning inordinate amounts of capital.”
“Channel loyalty in our best interests”
At the time Sophos announced its acquisition of SecureWorks, one partner IT Channel Oxygen spoke to said the acquisition would put Sophos in an “interesting complement/compete situation” with VARs and MSSPs.
Although SecureWorks had historically done “a lot” of business direct, “partner-led” Sophos is introducing partners into more SecureWorks engagements “right now”, Levy said.
“There are still some renewals that are direct. But loyalty to the channel is in the best interests of the business, and we’re going to continue to move in that direction,” he said.
Further acquisitions in the next 12 months are “very likely”, Levy said.
“Mandate to grow hyperscaler business”
Despite peers including CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and Okta all publicly announcing they have sold over $1bn via AWS Marketplace, Levy acknowledged that Sophos is only “in the very early stages” of leveraging hyperscaler marketplaces.
“With Chris Bell leading our global channel strategy, he has a mandate to grow our hyperscaler business and we’re going to be making some pretty significant investments in our partnerships with them,” Levy said.
In the interview, Levy also reflected on his first 18 months in the hotseat, and how he sees the threat landscape evolving.
“The attackers have realised they’re probably going to face too much resistance within the IT systems so they’re pulling the attacks paths out of the IT systems now, and that’s a trend we’ll probably see continue,” he said on the latter topic.
What else did Levy say?
Full interview begins on following page….
