The recent acquisitions of Fastpath and Authomize in April, two prominent players in the cybersecurity domain, are part of US-based Delinea’s broader plan to expand its influence in managing identities in an increasingly cloud-migrated world, according to CEO Art Gilliland (pictured).
Formed from the merger of privileged access management (PAM) leaders Thycotic and Centrify, Delinea was established in 2022 with the backing of private equity firm TPG Capital. The PAM vendor focuses on delivering comprehensive cloud-ready solutions that prioritise privileged access at the core of cybersecurity.
Discussing the motive behind both acquisitions, Gilliland said: "The move to the cloud is what motivated the Authomize and Fastpath acquisitions. We aim to manage interactions and ensure security in a centralisd manner, addressing the identity explosion in a distributed environment.
Both deals are strategic moves to provide customers with a robust, integrated platform for identity governance and management. “We're helping customers protect the most important access to the most important systems, consolidating the ability to do policy on their infrastructure," Gilliland adds.
“We’ll continue to invest in our own innovation as well around AI and making the interactions a lot smarter. That’s what is driving our core strategy," Gilliland stated.
Enhancing cloud and SaaS management
As part of its strategic approach, Authomize enhances Delinea’s capabilities in cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) management, providing more secure access control, which is vital in preventing breaches, Gilliland notes.
Authomize helps deliver the ability to control access to SaaS technologies and cloud infrastructure in a more secure way, ensuring that admins or managers of these systems do not have direct access to passwords.
“It gives us the ability to control access to those SAS technologies and cloud infrastructure in a much more secure way. This means the admin or the person managing it doesn't actually get access or know the password; it's all facilitated through a system. It also enforces something called two-factor authentication, which means you can't just steal someone's password—you also need a second factor to log in.”
Moreover, Authomize brings advanced user behavior analytics into Delinea’s portfolio, leveraging AI to monitor and analyse user behavior in real-time to block potential threats. This technology helps manage identity posture by reducing over-provisioned accounts.
"It allows you [partners] to profile user behavior and reduce the permissions granted, enhancing security and simplifying access management," explains Gilliland.
The addition of Fastpath also complements these enhancements with capabilities in identity governance and lifecycle management. "Fastpath does identity governance or identity lifecycle management, allowing us to manage centralised policy more effectively," Gilliland highlights.
"It helps us provision new access, de-provision access no longer needed, and manage the entire identity lifecycle. This centralised approach ensures a unified view of access policies, applied consistently across on-premises and cloud environments.
“Fastpath brings a number of resellers and advisory partners across to Deliena (circa ten strategic alliances), who support the GRC/IGA side of the business. So, they complement each other rather than compete.”
Integration and channel opportunities
One of the critical advantages of these acquisitions is the speed and efficiency with which Delinea can integrate new technologies into its platform.
For instance, the Authomize acquisition was fully integrated into the Delinea platform within three months. This rapid integration allows Delinea’s channel partners to cross-sell and upsell new capabilities seamlessly.
Gilliland notes: "What that allows our partners to do is if they already have an existing customer on the Delinea platform, they can add the Authomize capability as a feature on the platform."
Similarly, Delinea plans to integrate Fastpath into its platform by Q4 of this year, providing customers with a unified and streamlined experience.
“This integration strategy not only enhances the value proposition for Delinea’s customers but also accelerates the go-to-market process for partners, ensuring a cohesive and efficient approach to identity management.
“The impact will be positive since both solutions are already available through our existing channel ecosystem. Both Partners and Distributors have been informed about the solutions through various communications, including our EMEA Unlocked partner conference and a recent webinar series over the past few weeks.” he concluded.
