Cisco acquires Booz Allen cyber spinout

Cisco has completed its acquisition of SnapAttack, a cyber threat hunting software maker that Booz Allen Hamilton stood up as an internal shop in 2020 and then spun out the following year.

Booz Allen retained a minority stake in SnapAttack, which Volition Capital and Strategic Cyber Ventures acquired majority ownership of to aid in the startup’s push to further scale out its core product.

Terms of the transaction announced Wednesday were not disclosed, but Cisco said it is looking to further build out the security offerings of Splunk. Cisco acquired Splunk in March 2024 for $28 billion.

SnapAttack originated out of Booz Allen’s DarkLabs organization, which at the time was looking to consolidate threat intelligence and mitigation processes into a single offering.

“We spun out SnapAttack because we believe in the power of dual-use technology to speed outcomes,” Matt Calderone, Booz Allen’s chief financial officer, said in a release Wednesday. “When great products scale in the commercial market, their benefit expands across our government missions as well. This is an excellent outcome for all involved and we look forward to continuing to work with the SnapAttack team.”

Booz Allen spun out SnapAttack and the Modzy artificial intelligence shop in quick succession after discovering that the user bases of both products could extend far beyond the then-parent company’s core U.S. government customer set.