July 25, 2022
McLean, VA – Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) announced today it has partnered with Acalvio Technologies to improve the nation’s cybersecurity operations with proactive defenses that will help government and commercial organizations build greater resilience in the face of an increasingly dynamic threat landscape. This partnership complements Booz Allen’s National Cyber strategy by adding cyber deception to the firm’s intelligence-grade tradecraft and full-spectrum capabilities.
Acalvio’s patented and award-winning Autonomous Deception product, ShadowPlex, the only advanced cyber deception product with FedRAMP certification, enables organizations to detect, investigate, and respond to malicious activity in information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) environments across on-premises and cloud deployments. Together, Booz Allen and Acalvio will bring these sophisticated capabilities to government and commercial clients to combat advanced cybersecurity challenges, including advanced persistent threats (APT), ransomware, and insider threats. Key benefits of the partnership include:
Accelerated Threat Detection to Connect the Dots: With more than 5,000 cyber professionals with proven skillsets to support clients, Booz Allen cuts through the noise and connects across missions, sectors, and data silos to provide a comprehensive view of the threat landscape. Now, with Acalvio’s ShadowPlex, clients can better prioritize the endless number of alerts they receive with high-confidence alerts across identity management and cyber asset threats that are not always prevented by traditional sensor strategies. This approach reduces the attacker dwell time with early detection and increases security operations center efficiency with sophisticated investigation.
Adversarial Insights to Outpace the Competition: Backed by over 20 years of support across classified missions and commercial critical infrastructure sectors, Booz Allen uses a combination of reverse engineering, defensive technologies, predictive analytics, vulnerability assessments, proactive threat hunting, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) in preparation for adversaries. Now, this portfolio adds Acalvio’s patented Deception Farm architecture, a key differentiator for clients, to deploy deceptive artifacts—like fake hosts or “honeypots”—that act as tripwires to detect intruders to better understand their behaviors. Combined, these solutions allow for new and unique insights that can be quickly implemented to stop bad actors in their tracks.
Automated Deployments to Stay Ahead: Innovative solutions are only as good as their ability to rapidly integrate into the mission and quickly drive outcomes. Acalvio’s ShadowPlex automates and simplifies the configuration and deployment of deception artifacts, combining pre-defined playbooks with an AI-based recommendation system. With this partnership, Booz Allen will provide ready-to-deploy packaged solutions that automate service delivery to create scale, with lower cost, and greater mission impact.
“As cyber threats grow increasingly advanced, Booz Allen is committed to developing secure, trusted, and resilient strategies that enhance the nation’s cybersecurity posture,” said Booz Allen’s Director of National Cyber Solutions, Garrettson Blight. “To outpace the adversary, it is imperative that government and commercial organizations better integrate and synchronize the way they conduct cyber offense and defense. Booz Allen’s partnership with Acalvio achieves this, using offensive insights to inform cyber defense and addressing current gaps in the marketplace. This innovative approach operationalizes insights in real time so we can evolve our solutions to keep pace with the cyber landscape.”
The strategic partnership adds cyber deception to Booz Allen’s multiple cyber-enabled platforms for OT, cloud security, 5G technology security, connected health, and weapons systems cybersecurity, and complements Booz Allen’s existing operational capabilities such as threat hunting, detection engineering, and zero trust.
“We are proud to partner with Booz Allen to deliver innovative and ready-to-deploy cyber deception capabilities for government and commercial clients,” said CEO and Co-founder of Acalvio Technologies, Ram Varadarajan. “These offerings will empower government and commercial organizations to combat advanced cybersecurity challenges with solutions that deploy at speed and at scale in a fast-changing environment. With a combined focus on relentless innovation, this collaboration will allow clients to stay ahead of the competition and defend their most critical assets.”
With cross-sector mission understanding, battle-tested approaches, and ready-to-deploy solutions, Booz Allen is disrupting how the nation tackles cybersecurity and is taking a holistic approach to anticipate and solve the most complex cyber challenges. Learn more about Booz Allen's vision for bolder cybersecurity strategy, operations, and solutions, and the firm’s long history of supporting U.S. government work in cyber defense and offense.
