The Texas-based Forcepoint says that underlying the planned acquisition of Deep Secure are expansion opportunities that will enable the company to extend the capabilities of its Cross Domain Solutions portfolio to deliver enhanced efficacy for securing the critical data and missions of governments in the US and beyond.

Cross domain solutions enable secure sharing and access to critical mission and operational data between security levels across the government and critical infrastructure, providing enhanced security and functionality for high-consequence missions around the world.

“Forcepoint has been the global Cross Domain Solutions market leader for more than 20 years. We’ve maintained this leadership position by working closely with government, commercial clients and technology partners to ensure our solutions continue to deliver the most robust security and usability possible, while supporting our customers’ current and future mission requirements,” said Sean Berg, President of Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure at Forcepoint.

“The addition of Deep Secure’s innovative Threat Removal Platform and hardware security to our Forcepoint Cross Domain Solutions portfolio further extends the depth of our defence-grade capabilities to governments and critical infrastructure organizations around the world, who continue to be under siege from nation-state and other attackers looking for financial gain or to ultimately disrupt societies and economies at scale.

"We look forward to completing the transaction and subsequent integration of the Deep Secure team and technology into Forcepoint following required regulatory reviews in the coming weeks.”

According to Berg, Deep Secure addresses a substantial problem for organisations -- the safe exchange of information with trusted and untrusted sources.

Berg says Deep Secure’s Threat Removal platform takes a “zero trust approach to data, assuming all of the original data is infected and prohibits that data from reaching its destination. Instead, information is extracted from the original data, verified as safe using hardware-based verification, and then new data is built to carry the information safely to its destination. Malicious or unrecognised data hidden in the document is eradicated.

“Deep Secure’s Threat Removal platform helps eliminate the threat from a number of the most common attack vectors, including email and web downloads, and is ideal for organisations requiring the highest levels of assurance. Unlike traditional Content, Disarm & Reconstruction (CDR) products, Deep Secure’s Threat Removal platform is not reliant on detection and has been proven to be highly effective, with optimized user experience, flexible deployment and proven ROI.”

“There’s already significant alignment between Forcepoint and Deep Secure based on our respective footprints in the defence and intelligence sectors as well as our shared mission in taking a data-first and zero trust approach to security that protects the digital crown jewels at all costs – which is critical for business integrity today,” said Dan Turner, CEO of Deep Secure.

“The economics of removing the Malware threat in the information flows are truly compelling and by extending the Threat Removal approach into cross domain solutions on-premises, hybrid or in the cloud enables enterprise organizations to experience defence-grade cybersecurity solutions at an exceptional value.”

Subject to regulatory review and customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in August 2021.