First Acquisition in Israel is a Cyber Security Firm
Honeywell acquired cyber security firm Nextnine, based in Petah Tikva, Israel, last week for an undisclosed sum, reported locally to be around $35 million. Founded in 1998, Nextnine makes software to protect industry and critical infrastructure and is Honeywell’s first acquisition in Israel. It will now form the core of the company’s national activities and become an R&D centre, according to Nextnine CEO Shmuel Aran.
Honeywell has considerable existing cybersecurity research capabilities and is rapidly expanding in industrial cybersecurity, the company stated in announcing the acquisition. Nextnine’s flagship product, ICS SHIELD, protects industrial assets from cyber attacks and allows users remote access to their plants. Its addition to the Honeywell portfolio will allow the company to complement the cybersecurity capabilities already on offer to more than 6,200 sites globally in the oil and gas, utility, chemical, mining and manufacturing markets, the company stated.
According to Aran, the 35 staff at Nextnine will be incorporated into a 200-strong team across the corporation that intends to further develop cyber security services for industrial and critical infrastructure protection and leverage sales to, “several hundred million dollars.”