Deloitte expands cloud cybersecurity footprint with CloudQuest acquisition

Deloitte today announced plans to acquire CloudQuest, a cloud security posture management provider based in Cupertino, California. The deal, the terms of which weren’t disclosed, will bolster Deloitte’s existing cloud cybersecurity offerings to manage security workflows and improve data security, according to Deloitte cyber cloud leader and principal Vikram Kunchala.

“While the global pandemic slowed some things, it didn’t slow cloud migration or cloud reliance for the vast majority of organizations,” Kunchala said in a press release. “As organizations work to build or advance their security postures for cloud or hybrid-cloud environments, we’re expanding and diversifying our services and solutions portfolio to help our clients continuously monitor, prevent and remediate security threats.”

Some experts estimate that legacy forensics tools only provide 5% or less of the data needed to investigate a cloud attack. Forensics analysts often determine that an attack is not worth further investigation, due to the level of effort required to dig deeper. But these attacks aren’t slowing. Some 20% of organizations get hit with cyberattacks six or more times a year, and 80% say they’ve experienced at least one incident in the last year so severe it required a board-level meeting, according to a report from IronNet.

CloudQuest

CloudQuest, which was founded in 2017 by Nishan Sathyanarayan, Ramesh Menon, Vijay Sarathy, offers a platform to assess the security of a company and act to remediate potential issues. It features Google Cloud Platform (GCP) hierarchy-aware orchestration that allows it to use GCP-specific information like the origin of an event or resource access permissions to determine how to handle automation in response to security events. CloudQuest’s technology also integrates with a range of enterprise ticketing and security analytics tools, automatically creating tickets and assigning to resource owners with priorities based on rules-defined criteria. And it processes data using resources within organizations’ cloud deployment to ensure that artifacts are retained and remain within an organization’s control.

Sarathy says that joining Deloitte will enable CloudQuest to expand its capabilities, helping organizations protect against the “next generation” of security threats and promoting innovation to foster more efficient cloud security capabilities. “This new chapter is one that my cofounders … and I always hoped to achieve as we worked to help those in the cloud accelerate their cybersecurity efforts,” he said in a statement.

For Deloitte, the CloudQuest acquisition represents the consultancy’s latest expansion into a cloud security market that’s anticipated to be worth $20.9 billion by 2027. Earlier this year, the firm snatched up Root9B, a Colorado Springs-based provider of advanced cyber threat hunting services and solutions. Root9B offering tailored managed services as well as vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, in addition to defense forensics and incident response and defensive security and hunt operator training.

“We see incredible opportunity in novel approaches that help organizations securely transform and operate while also realizing competitive advantage — and we’re continually investing to bring the most innovative solutions to our clients,” Deloitte risk and financial advisory cyber and strategic risk leader Deborah Golden said. “Our acquisition of CloudQuest represents our profound commitment to transforming alongside our clients, competing vigorously in the market, and aggressively building out tech-enabled approaches that position Deloitte cyber as an unquestionable business enabler.”

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