AppRiver Acquires Endpoint Security Provider Total Defense -

AppRiver has acquired Total Defense, a provider of subscription-based endpoint security for consumers and small businesses, the companies confirmed today. Financial terms were not disclosed.

AppRiver's threat intelligence technology will ultimately surface in Total Defense's endpoint security offerings. The effort will bolster AppRiver's mission to be a one-stop provider of security solutions and recurring revenue opportunities for channel partners, the company predicted.

In a prepared statement, AppRiver CTO and Co-Founder Joel Smith said:

“We evaluated a broad set of endpoint security providers and found that Total Defense’s technology was the strongest and an excellent complement to AppRiver’s existing solutions. Our threat intelligence data will enhance Total Defense’s endpoint offering and position AppRiver to develop and bring to market another best-in-class solution to our partners and the SMB customers they serve.”

This is AppRiver's second security-related acquisition in recent months. The earlier deal involved buying Roaring Penguin for anti-spam and machine learning technologies. The company also hired Kevin Hatch as CFO in January 2018. The M&A and talent moves surfaced after AppRiver lined up private equity funding in October 2017.

MSP Software Providers Embrace Cybersecurity Market

Multiple MSP software providers have made security-centric business moves in recent weeks. Among the milestones to note:

Datto is taking a close look at the security market, CEO Austin McChord told ChannelE2E during IT Glue’s GlueCon conference in September 2018. If I had to guess, the company will layer more and more security into its networking equipment, potentially competing against SonicWall in the SMB sector.

ConnectWise recently invested in Perch Security, a SOC specialist with master MSSP capabilities for peer MSPs.

Continuum recently acquired CARVIR and has built outsourced SOC services for MSPs. CEO Michael George in September 2018 told MSPs to take the cybersecurity mountain during the Navigate 2018 conference in Boston.

Kaseya also is looking at the security market for potential moves, CEO Fred Voccola told ChannelE2E at GlueCon. The company already has two important pieces of the puzzle — RapidFire Tools and AuthAnvil.

SolarWinds MSP in September 2018 unveiled a Threat Monitoring Service Program at the company’s Empower MSP conference in Phoenix.

Moreover, organizations such as Alien Vault, Arctic Wolf Networks and Infogressive have developed SOC-oriented strategies to assist MSPs as customers and partners.

AppRiver: Past, Present, Future

AppRiver launched in 2002 primarily as a spam- and virus-filtering company, but the firm has since expanded to offer a suite of cybersecurity and productivity solutions including web malware protection, email encryption, secure archiving and email continuity services. That expansion has generated plenty of MSP traction. The company surfaced on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private businesses in America for 11 consecutive years.

Fast forward to present day, and AppRiver's channel partners protect more than 60,000 companies worldwide against cyberthreats. The company also claims to rank among the world’s top Office 365 and Secure Hosted Exchange providers.