Ultima beefs up security with The AntiSocial Engineer buy

Channel cloud and automation specialist Ultima Business Solutions has moved to bolster its security portfolio with the acquisition of The AntiSocial Engineer.

The deal will provide Ultima with a business that specialises in helping customers to avoid cyber attacks through a process of training and auditing services. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A combination of social engineering and penetration testing assessments provide the AntiSocial Engineer with a chance to make sure customers are prepared to fend off attacks. That is then tested further with educational phishing simulations and awareness campaigns to improve individual cyber security knowledge.

Ultima has been adding more security depth organically. This time last year, Ultima Labs added more data protection functionality to its IA-Cloud management platform, with automated security compliance and a vulnerability analyser, designed to help customers to quickly check if they are up to date with regulations.

Scott Dodds, CEO of Ultima, said that the move for The AntiSocial Engineer would bolster its security position even further.

“It strengthens our security expertise and will further help us protect our clients’ digital revenue and reputation round the clock and deliver better value to them,” he said.

He added that the approach taken by the AntiSocial team would increase its own expertise helping users identify vulnerabilities and resolve them.

“All skills which complement our own security expertise and will help protect our clients and allow them to successfully increase their speed of innovation though cloud, security and digital,” he said.

In response, Richard De Vere, founder and owner of The AntiSocial Engineer, said that the deal would be a positive one for its staff and customers.

“I am confident that the acquisition will enable us to serve our existing clients better and our continued growth will be nurtured by Ultima’s experience in business. This is an exciting new phase for our team,” he said.

“We can bring the experiences and lessons learnt through our unique testing and stimulations to a wider global audience and ensure Ultima’s clients are benefiting from the increased resilience we strive for.”

This deal adds to Ultima’s previous acquisition of Just After Midnight last year, and is a sign that the firm is determined to grow both organically and through acquisition.

Research shared on last month’s MSP Day revealed that the channel was becoming increasingly aware that security was the number one concern for users and an area they needed to be able to have a strong story around.

Speaking about the results, Jason Howells, vice-president of MSP international sales at Barracuda MSP, said it was important for managed service providers to beef up their position on security.

“I think the research is suggesting that MSPs take the next step of the MSP journey and start to focus on what their customers are really crying out for right now, and that is helping support around cyber security,” he said. “The opportunity in front of us all is huge.

“If they build the right services, if they partner with the right people and they start to lead with security, and at the very heart of their business start really trying to help and address what is at the forefront of all of their customers’ minds right now, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to take advantage of all of that opportunity.”