Honeywell International announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement to acquire Scadafence, an Israeli company that specializes in operational-technology and Internet-of-Things cybersecurity solutions for monitoring large-scale networks. This acquisition strengthens Honeywell’s cybersecurity portfolio.
Honeywell acknowledges the projected growth of the operational-technology cybersecurity industry to over $10 billion in the coming years. As part of Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity+ suite, Scadafence will be integrated, offering enhanced asset discovery, threat detection, and compliance management capabilities.
Operational technology, which controls heavy equipment in critical-infrastructure operations like manufacturing and energy companies, has long been a cybersecurity concern.
Experts are concerned about potential life-threatening damage if hackers gain access to controls for systems such as water distribution. An incident in February 2021 in Oldsmar, Fla., where a control engineer detected tampering and promptly reversed it, highlighted the risks.
In its annual threat report published in February, industrial cybersecurity company Dragos reported a 35% increase in hacker groups targeting control systems and operational technology in 2022.
Charlotte-based Honeywell did not disclose the terms of the deal but expects to finalize it this year.
This acquisition reflects the ongoing consolidation in the industry as security chiefs strive to maximize their resources and carefully select the technology they invest in.
CISOs now prefer to purchase multiple services from a single vendor rather than individual products from multiple vendors. They also demand vendors to show the value of their products more convincingly than before, according to Ciaran Martin, the UK chairman of cybersecurity company CyberCX and former chief of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.
“CISOs and boards are now asking vendors how their cloud security or threat detection differs from competitors. This heightened scrutiny is beneficial and healthy,” said Martin.
—Colin Kellaher contributed to this article.
Write to James Rundle at [email protected] and Catherine Stupp at [email protected]
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