Booz Allen to buy commercial cyber firm Morphick

Booz Allen Hamilton has agreed to acquire Cincinnati region-based commercial cybersecurity company Morphick in a deal to add new threat detection and analysis technologies.

Terms of the transaction were undisclosed and Booz Allen expects to close the deal by the end of this year, the firm said Friday.

Founded in 2015, Morphick has 40 employees and builds its analysis technologies to figure out both the motivation and actions of cyber attacker. The company envisions its platforms as helping overcome shortages of skilled cybersecurity professionals in the workforce, according to Booz Allen.

The addition of Morphick seeks to extend Booz Allen’s detection and response services and make them available as a remotely-delivered managed service round-the-clock. Booz Allen also plans to complement Morphick’s platform with the former’s Cyber4Sight threat intelligence service, the companies said.

McLean, Va.-based Booz Allen said this acquisition falls within its larger “Vision 2020” initiative to combine the firm’s longstanding management consulting work with skills in technology-based areas such as cybersecurity, data analytics, digital services systems engineering.

Booz Allen acquired Laurel, Md.-based Aquilent earlier this year for $250 million to add digital government and user experience services in another deal that was part of Vision 2020. That was preceded two years earlier by the purchase of agile development company SPARC.

Booz Allen recorded $5.8 billion in revenue for its 2017 fiscal year ended March 31 with 2.6 percent of that from commercial customers, or $152.1 million. The firm reported 2.3 percent of its fiscal 2016 sales were in commercial markets at around $122.2 million by comparison, according to annual regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.