Celerium Inc. has acquired Dark Cubed, a specialist in automated network defense to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and U.S. Department of Defense contractors, the companies announced September 12.
This is technology M&A deal number 814 that MSSP Alert and sister site ChannelE2E have covered so far in 2022.
Celerium, founded in 2016 and based in Washington, D.C., has 34 employees listed on LinkedIn, while Alexandria, Virginia-based Dark Cubed, founded in 2015, lists 28 employees.
A Shift From Threat Sharing to Cyber Defense
Celerium’s Dark Cubed acquisition triggers a shift in its overall focus from enabling cyber threat sharing to one of powering active cyber defense, the company stated. Celerium says its customers and the MSP partners will gain enhanced capability and functionality through the integration Dark Cubed cyber solutions.
Aubrey Chernick, founder and chairman of Celerium, described the path forward for the newly merged companies:
"Celerium's mission has always been to help companies fortify their overall cyber defense posture. The reality of today's climate — in which ransomware and other cyber threats continue to increase while organizations face a cyber skills gap and lack of resources — requires active defense. We look forward to enhancing Dark Cubed's active cyber defense solution and expanding its reach and adoption.”
Dark Cubed Automates Cyber Defense
Dark Cubed offers an advanced, patented and automated network defense solution, having focused its business on building a growing community of MSPs to deliver solutions to the often underserved SMB community. The company states that its “set-it-and-forget-it solution” delivers 100% automated threat detection and blocking. Also, the solution is deployed in minutes and requires no new hardware or software installation. Nor does the solution require agents or cyber security analysts to operate.
Celerium notes that U.S. Department of Defense contractors are using the Dark Cubed product hosted on AWS GovCloud.
Dark Cubed founder and CEO Vince Crisler, who will become Celerium's chief strategy officer, explained why the acquisition makes sense for both organizations:
"Our team has demonstrated that it is possible to deliver effective and affordable cybersecurity capabilities to the SMB using intelligent automation and partnering with exceptional MSPs. Joining forces with the team at Celerium will enable us to accelerate the development of that community and allow us to expand our reach and influence into additional markets that need active, effective automated cyber defense. This is a huge win for Dark Cubed, our MSP partners, and the cybersecurity industry, and I look forward to what's next."
Over the next few months, Celerium plans to make additional product announcements, including planned enhancements of Dark Cubed's signature product and new active defense solutions. Currently, Celerium's CMMC Academy initiative provides resources to help government contractors navigate the Department of Defense's cybersecurity compliance programs (CMMC and NIST 800-171).
