Coalfire completes sale to new private equity owner

Coalfire goes from being owned by multiple private equity investors to now having a single PE backer as the cyber advisory firm looks for growth in the Defense Department's CMMC cybersecurity standards.

Private equity firm Apax Partners has completed its acquisition of Coalfire, a cybersecurity advisory and assessment services provider for government and commercial clients.

Coalfire’s federal practice will continue to be led by President Bill Malone as it seeks to increasingly work with other government contractors to prepare for and meet the Defense Department’s new cybersecurity standard.

Version 1.0 of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification was released in January to unify cyber hygiene practices across the defense supply chain with third-party assessments of contractor compliance a key part of that initiative, not unlike the government-wide FedRAMP initiative for cloud computing.

First announced in December, the sale of Coalfire means it essentially changed hands from being owned by a group of private equity investors to now having a single backer. Coalfire is one of several third-party assessors for the government-wide FedRAMP cloud computing program.