Dragos acquires Network Perception to enhance operational technology network visibility

Industrial control system cybersecurity company Dragos Inc. announced today that it had acquired operational technology solutions provider Network Perception Inc. for an undisclosed price.

Founded in 2014, Network Perception specializes in OT network security and offers tools for network visibility, auditing and segmentation. The company’s flagship platform, NP-View, offers network mapping, real-time updates and compliance features. They’re designed to help industries such as utilities, oil and gas, healthcare and financial services safeguard critical infrastructure by simplifying network visualization and reducing attack surfaces.

NP-View proactively assesses, visualizes and monitors network security posture in an offline manner with no risk to operations by taking a noninvasive approach by accessing or uploading configuration files for switches, routers and firewalls. The platform provides a network topology map, analyzes access paths and evaluates firewall rules to simplify complex tasks such as analyzing access risk, validating network segmentation and auditing network designs.

The acquisition of Network Perception brings together the capabilities of the Dragos Platform with those of NP-View, giving organizations an understanding of their networks that was previously elusive from a single provider. Dragos says the combination coming together will allow organizations now to see which assets are connecting to which services in their critical networks, as well as which assets can connect to which services.

The combination of the two platforms is also planned to deliver dual-layer visibility into OT environments by revealing both real-time connections and potential pathways in a cohesive view. Doing so will allow security teams to proactively defend against risks that are invisible to conventional solutions and fully map the intent versus reality of their network configurations, identifying key vulnerabilities along the attack path before they can be exploited.

In the future, the integration of NP-View’s topology and firewall rules analysis into the Dragos Platform will allow customers to map their OT environment network topology more effectively. They will also be able to decide where to place Dragos Platform network sensors, map vulnerabilities to attack paths, and evaluate configuration and policy drift.

“This acquisition brings our teams and technologies together to give organizations an unprecedented level of visibility into their OT environments,” said co-founder and Chief Executive Robert M. Lee. “Network Perception’s compliance capabilities expand Dragos’ already strong foundation for helping organizations meet regulations.”

Coming into its acquisitions, Network Perception had raised $15.7 million in venture capital funding over three rounds, according to Tracxn. Investors in the company include the Westly Group, Okapi Venture Capital, Serra Ventures, Energy Foundry and Early Light Ventures.

Image: Network Perception