[Infowarrior] - ManTech buys HBGary

[Richard Forno]

ManTech buys HBGary to battle advanced persistent threats

Combined security company will include malware detection software and forensics services

By Tim Greene, Network World 
February 28, 2012 04:37 PM ET

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/022812-mantech-hbgary-256748.html

National security tech provider ManTech International is buying HBGary Inc., with an eye toward its software that fights advanced persistent threats and other malware.

In addition to its technology, HBGary also has a customer list including financial services, energy, critical infrastructure and technology businesses. ManTech caters mainly to government agencies, and its President and COO L. William Varner says the combination of the businesses will help both groups of customers. "The combination of ManTech and HBGary will create a broader cyber security solution capability for both our commercial and government customers," Varner says in a written statement.

The upside for HBGary customers will be the addition of ManTech's incident response services, says HBGary CEO Greg Hoglund, and the flip side is that ManTech customers gain HBGary's line of software, which include Active Defense threat detection software for enterprises and Responder, forensics software for analyzing individual computers.

HBGary's 40-plus employees will remain with the company after the deal is finalized next month, Hoglund says. The HBGary name will be kept at least in the short term and the business will be run as a unit of ManTech by Ken Silva, who was hired specifically to run the group.

Hoglund says he will relinquish day-to-day running of the business in favor of helping the business expand into new areas of cybersecurity.

The price of the deal was undisclosed.

HBGary is a separate entity from the now defunct HBGary Federal, which became notorious last year at this time when its emails were hacked and made public, revealing some controversial business practices. The company has since shut down as a result.


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