DigiCert, a digital trust provider, announced its definitive agreement to acquire Vercara from Golden Gate Capital and GIC.
Expected to close later this year, the acquisition will enable DigiCert to combine a DNS-based service with its existing portfolio of certificate management services.
DigiCert CEO Amit Sinha said the combined company will streamline the number of vendors an organization might otherwise need to engage, to gain access to these highly complementary services.
To simplify automation, reduce outages, and reduce security risks, DigiCert will acquire an enterprise DNS service provider led by the former Arbor Networks CEO.
CEO Amit Sinha stated, “Automation is an absolute necessity in the multi-cloud world that we live in.” You are bound to that infrastructure when you obtain DNS from your cloud provider. Therefore, maintaining a neutral DNS and SSL provider makes your hybrid multi-cloud strategy much more adaptable to today’s environment.”
According to Sinha, the combined company will also expand those capabilities to enable organizations to track the provenance of content in an era of artificial intelligence (AI) in which “deep fakes” are being used to create images and audio files of events that never actually occurred. He added that being able to demonstrate conclusively where an original piece of content that is currently being used to assist in the creation of a deep fake was created is one of the best ways to combat those threats.
There will even come a day when consumers of content will be able to look for some type of certification that verifies a piece of content was created by a trusted source, noted Sinha.
Many businesses are looking to consolidate the number of security tools, platforms, and services they require in order to cut costs and improve workflow efficiency, which is why Vercara was bought. The workflow that needs to be managed gets even more complicated each time an organization adds another tool from a different vendor. Because there isn’t enough cybersecurity expertise available to learn how to use and maintain new tools and platforms, many organizations are reluctant to implement them.
According to Singh, a growing number of businesses are also utilizing DevOps workflows to automate tasks like certificate provisioning in order to address the skills shortage. With that strategy, cybersecurity teams should be able to focus more on finding and fixing vulnerabilities rather than managing infrastructure.
In the era of digital business transformation, the number of websites and applications that businesses need to protect will only continue to grow. The problem lies in figuring out how to use cloud-based services to protect them at the required scale.
“Initially, it’s more focused on use cases like certificate management and DNS, but as we go deeper, you can think about customers getting a unified stack for their online experiences, starting with basic DNS and SSL and adding the ability to do DDoS, API gateway, botnet management and even CDN,” Sinha said. “These become nice, layered services from a vendor consolidation perspective.”
DigiCert will measure the success of the Vercara acquisition based on annual recurring revenue growth and profit margins, and the company is focused on balancing efficiency and growth, according to Sinha. He advised CISOs to view DNS and SSL as vital components of digital trust and recognize the importance of automation in managing digital certificates and stopping breaches, especially in multi-cloud settings.
Why DNS and SSL Go Together Well
Sinha stated that DNS and SSL are two essential building blocks for digital trust on the internet. SSL makes sure that communications are safe and encrypted, and DNS is important for managing domain registrations. He stated that Vercara’s DNS solutions and DigiCert’s SSL certificate services have significant customer overlap, particularly among Fortune 500 companies, making the acquisition advantageous.
Sinha stated that integrating DNS and SSL on the same platform makes tasks like automating certificate issuance and validating domain controls simpler, lowering the likelihood of outages and improving security. Sinha claims that for large organizations, managing and integrating DNS and SSL on the same platform makes it simpler for security and infrastructure teams to do so.
Sinha said, “When security and infrastructure teams have products from the same company when it comes to integrating and simplifying DNS management and simplifying certificate management,” “it just makes it easy when it comes to integrating and simplifying DNS management.”
DigiCert plans to take a phased approach to integration, focusing initially on general and administrative functions such as human resources, finance and legal and then turning to the product and sales divisions further down the road, Sinha said. Within the first year of closing, DigiCert aims to onboard Vercara’s leadership and combine SSL and DNS to enhance customer trust and security automation, Sinha said.
