Dell-EMC Has Big Cybersecurity Implications

Today’s landmark purchase of EMC by Dell for $67 billion has set the entire tech industry ablaze with talk about what the integration of these two powerhouses will do to the enterprise IT marketplace. With much of the talk focused on the storage play this adds to Dell’s portfolio, it’s easy to forget the security implications of the deal. But both sides of this marriage bring significant security assets to the table—Dell with components from SecureWorks, SonicWALL, and Quest Software and EMC with RSA. There’s significant opportunity for Dell to leverage this deal to make a serious bid for dominating the security market.

“They're getting a tremendous portfolio,” says Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst for IT Harvest and a partner for TrueBit Cyber Partners, which helps investors and IT security vendors do due diligence prior to acquisitions and other big deals. “RSA is a leader in anti-fraud, they've got one of the best security analytics tools – and of course they've got 30,000 customers that use the SecurID token. So I think the security presence in the marketplace will certainly help Dell, because Dell also has a huge overlap with EMC's customer base, but the security of course will really give them a foot in the door, if they can leverage it.”

In particular, Stiennon believes there’s a ton of opportunity for Dell to leverage RSA’s product offerings and executive braintrust to take its SecureWorks MSSP to the next level. However, he says the “confusing” announcement this summer by Dell to take SecureWorks public could potentially throw a kink in that integration. There is a chance that the company could pull back from that decision, as they’re not locked into that move just yet.

Regardless, a huge chunk of RSA’s portfolio lends itself to the services model, Stiennon says.

“For example, NetWitness in particular holds opportunity because its complicated and expensive, and would be an ideal addition as a maintenance service,” he says. “As are managed identity services, which is a big business and there’s tons of potential for that synergy right there.”

Tactically, the combination of the company’s technology could help fill some glaring holes for each, says Rod Simmons, director of product management for BeyondTrust.

“Dell will likely merge their token solution into the RSA product to aid in RSA's poor Active Directory integration issue,” he says. “We can also hope the knowledge Dell brings on the Unix front will solve the painful lack of knowledge that seems to exist at EMC.”

Read the rest of the article at Dark Reading.