CyberMaxx buys Avertium to add Microsoft security skills
The US MDR provider has bought Microsoft security, compliance and offensive testing expertise rather than building it, and hasn’t said what it paid
- Avertium is also a Microsoft Elite Security Partner and sits on the Microsoft Partner Advisory Council, CyberMaxx says
- CyberMaxx bought Corvid Cyberdefense in January, Channel Dive reported
- Periscope Equity invested in CyberMaxx in 2021, Channel Dive reported
- The announcement makes no mention of UK operations
This is a US deal, but the logic travels. Pinkham told Channel Dive that many mid-market customers own Microsoft Sentinel licenses they don’t know how to use. That is likely to ring true for UK MSSPs too, and an MSSP that can’t run Sentinel may look increasingly exposed in MDR deals.
CyberMaxx chose to buy the skill rather than train for it. For UK Microsoft security specialists, that looks like one more sign that their accreditations are what acquirers are paying for.
“We can now walk alongside a customer from their first security assessment through continuous defense, as their single committed partner.”Brian M. Ahern, chief executive, CyberMaxx
CyberMaxx, a US provider of managed detection and response (MDR) to mid-market companies, said on 16 September that it has acquired Avertium, a Microsoft-focused security firm. The deal closed on 11 September on undisclosed terms.
Avertium brings governance, risk and compliance (GRC) advisory work, offensive security and Microsoft credentials. It is a Microsoft Security Solutions Partner, a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association and, the release says, a verified managed extended detection and response (MXDR) provider, with skills across Defender, Sentinel, Entra, Purview, Intune and Copilot. CyberMaxx says it will adopt Avertium’s “Assess, Design, Protect” method as the combined company’s strategy.
John Pinkham, CyberMaxx’s vice-president of marketing and alliances, told Channel Dive that the company had lacked in-house Microsoft MDR capability and had been referring compliance work to third parties. He also told the outlet that roughly 90% of CyberMaxx’s bookings come through channel partners, mainly technology services distributors (TSDs) and the advisors beneath them. Channel Dive reported that the two firms had no distributor in common: CyberMaxx works with Telarus, Intelisys, AppDirect and Sandler Partners, and Avertium with Avant and GTS.
