Kris Hagerman became the CEO of security vendor Sophos in 2012 and has helped push the company forward ever since. Now in 2017, Sophos faces multiple challenges, including a highly competitive marketplace as well as increasingly sophisticated attackers.
In a video interview with eWEEK, Hagerman provides insight into how Sophos is growing and where its focus will be in the months ahead. Part of Sophos’ growth will be organic, and some will be by way of acquisitions.
On Feb. 8, Sophos announced that it was acquiring next-generation security vendor Invincea in a $120 million deal. The Invincea technology is now being integrated into Sophos’ broader platform vision to enable what the company refers to as synchronized security.
“The thing that I think is most exciting about Sophos today is we are really delivering on the mission of having a complete advanced security portfolio that is at the same time easy to use for any size organization,” Hagerman said.
The basic idea is to have an array of security capabilities and provide control through a single cloud-managed console, with all the different security features communicating with each other.
When it comes to deciding whether Sophos should buy a company, like Invincea, or build technology with its own resources, Hagerman noted that it’s a constant balance.
“Our view is you want to have a robust organic pipeline for development, but at the same time you want to be pretty self-aware and know that there is a big broad world out there of security innovation,” Hagerman said.
Watch the full video with Kris Hagerman, CEO of Sophos below:
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.