Dragos Acquires Network Perception

Industrial cybersecurity provider Dragos recently announced its acquisition of Network Perception for an undisclosed sum. Network Perception is best known for its NP-View offering that provides network visibility for OT environments. According to Dragos, "The acquisition will bolster the Dragos Platform with industry-leading OT network visibility along with compliance and segmentation analysis and reporting capabilities tailored to safeguard critical OT environments". This is a good acquisition for Dragos as it expands and solidifies its capabilities in OT cybersecurity, and it is further evidence of consolidation in the OT cybersecurity market. According to Dragos, "As cyber threats to industrial networks continue to evolve, attaining complete OT network visibility is essential.” By bringing together the capabilities of the Dragos Platform with those of NP-View, organizations gain an understanding of their networks that was previously elusive from a single provider. They can now view which assets are connected to specific services in their critical networks, as well as which assets have the capability to connect to those services.

With the upcoming integration, the combined power of the Dragos Platform and NP-View will deliver dual-layer visibility into OT environments by revealing both real-time connections and potential pathways in a cohesive view. This will empower security teams to proactively defend against risks that are invisible to conventional solutions and for the first time fully map the intent versus reality of their network configurations, identifying key vulnerabilities along the attack path before they can be exploited.

NP-View is trusted by organizations in the energy, utilities, and industrial sectors to proactively assess, visualize, and monitor their network security posture in an offline manner with no risk to operations. NP-View takes a non-invasive approach by accessing or uploading configuration files for switches, routers, and firewalls. It provides a network topology map, analyzes access paths, and evaluates firewall rules. It dramatically simplifies the complex task of analyzing access risk, validating network segmentation, and auditing network designs.

Dragos gave additional insight into how the company's two platforms would merge—"In the future, through the integration of NP-View’s topology and firewall rules analysis into the Dragos Platform, customers will be able to map their OT environment network topology more effectively, decide where to place Dragos Platform network sensors, map vulnerabilities to attack paths, and evaluate configuration and policy drift. The dual layer visibility into what assets are communicating and what communication paths are possible will be a powerful security and compliance view of the OT environment. NP-View’s network segmentation capabilities will enhance Dragos’ strong defense mechanisms against lateral movement by adversaries within OT environments”.

According to the CEO and co-founder of Dragos, Robert M. Lee, “The acquisition of Network Perception represents a significant milestone toward our shared mission to secure the world’s industrial and critical infrastructure. Our companies have grown side-by-side with complementary technologies to protect OT environments. This acquisition brings our teams and technologies together to give organizations an unprecedented level of visibility into their OT environments. Network Perception’s compliance capabilities expand Dragos’s already strong foundation for helping organizations meet regulations”. 

While both companies have a strong presence in the North American electric sector, the acquisition allows Dragos to bring Network Perception’s capabilities to Dragos’ customers in oil & gas, manufacturing, and other industries globally.

Additionally, Dragos’ customers in the US electric sector can benefit from NP-View’s ability to save time and resources in assessing and managing compliance with the network access requirements of CIP-003 and CIP-005. NP-View is trusted by NERC auditors themselves to conduct compliance audits, reflecting a high standard in network visibility and compliance management. Network Perception’s solution supports continuous compliance checks and evidence documentation for NERC-CIP and TSA standards, drastically reducing the time and resources needed for network audits and documentation. NP-View also provides the building blocks to support multiple compliance frameworks, including IEC 62443, further enhancing compliance strength for customers.

“Joining forces with Dragos allows us to combine our strengths and deliver even greater value to the OT community,” said Robin Berthier, CEO and co-founder, Network Perception. “We are excited to combine our teams, which include some of the brightest minds in industrial cybersecurity, to accelerate innovation and help customers defend against threats and meet regulatory requirements today and tomorrow”.