BitSight buys dark web security specialist Cybersixgill for $115M

More consolidation is afoot in the world of cybersecurity. BitSight, a cybersecurity startup last valued at $2.4 billion when ratings firm Moody’s took a majority stake in the business in 2021, is acquiring Cybersixgill for $115 million.

Boston-based BitSight’s focus is cyber risk management. It works with enterprises to assess their risk profiles and specifically the likelihood that they will be breached, which covers not just evaluating a company’s attack surface across its network and other digital assets, but also the products that it uses to defend these.

Cybersixgill will give BitSight another level of visibility in that effort: the smaller startup analyzes dark web activity specifically to proactively look for data leaks and indicators of potential breaches and new techniques. The collective area it focuses on is called “cyber threat intelligence” and it says it covers invite-only messaging groups, code repositories, paste sites, and clear web platforms.

Both companies lean heavily on AI in their work, and it sounds like they will complement each other in terms of what they focus on.  

The smaller company, based out of Israel, originally launched as Sixgill. It had raised just under $56 million from investors including CrowdStrike, OurCrowd and Terra Venture per PitchBook data. But PitchBook also notes that the startup was last valued, in 2022, at just over $162 million. Cybersecurity has been a white-hot area of the market for funding in the last couple of years, but rising tides do not lift all paper boats.

The deal will see more money put into the tech that Cybersixgill was building. “We’re committed to investing in Cybersixgill’s industry-leading products and will continue to drive innovation to bring even greater value to customers,” said Steve Harvey, CEO of Bitsight, in a canned statement. The company is bringing on both the tech and the team.