ADT unveils cybersecurity service for commercial business

BOCA RATON, Fla.—ADT announced this week the acquisition close of cybersecurity company DATASHIELD, unveiling that the newly acquired company will now operate under the brand ADT Cybersecurity.

DATASHIELD CEO Michael Malone will join the ADT team as senior vice president for ADT Cybersecurity, reporting directly to Timothy J. Whall, CEO of ADT, who said the new brand will be focused on enterprise and mid-market businesses with Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services to combat advanced cyberthreats in real-time.

“Our goal is to provide ADT customers with the most comprehensive security solution to protect their business, and in today's world, this not only means their physical premise, but also their network,” ADT's Whall said in the announcement, noting that the company will now allow ADT to extend that same level of security monitoring to the digital world. “Michael and his team will infuse cybersecurity DNA into our core business, allowing us to provide an offering that will distinguish our brand as the premiere resource for end-to-end security.”

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., DATASHIELD was founded in 2009 and specializes in MDR for mid-market and enterprise locations. In September, DATASHIELD opened its state-of-the-art Advanced Security Operations Center, or ASOC, increasing customer capacity by 300 percent.

Jason Shockley, ADT's VP of corporate communications, told Security Systems News, “The acquisition of DATASHIELD further strengthens our ability to help protect our clients' virtual world that is increasingly under attack. At this point, we will continue to operate their state-of-the-art Advanced Security Operations Center (ASOC).”

DATASHIELD, now ADT Cybersecurity, offers full packet capture and inspection beyond headers and metadata behind the firewall, according to the press release. ADT commercial and national account customers who look to add ADT Cybersecurity services will also have access to SHIELDVision, a unified platform for organizing, managing and collecting cyber intelligence. SHIELDVision automates security analyst workflows to close the gap between cyberattack and breach detection time and remediation for customers.

“The standard approach to cybersecurity was not designed to provide rapid response,” Michael Malone, CEO, DATASHIELD, said in the announcement. “This is a landmark opportunity to combine the brand and reach of ADT, with the technology and innovation of DATASHIELD to establish the new standard in the most comprehensive digital protection for mid-market and enterprise businesses.”

Shockley pointed out that creating additional solutions for cybersecurity “has been on our radar for several years. We have been working with our clients to help design, manage and monitor security only networks for several years through our Network Operations Center and Integrated Solutions division. We also provide bundled solutions for small to medium businesses that we launched in select markets last year and are in the process of rolling out nationally.”

ADT Cybersecurity services are available for commercial and national account customers effective immediately.

Momentum Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to DATASHIELD and is serving as ADT's strategic cybersecurity advisor.