Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
SecurityWeek counted 405 announced cybersecurity-related merger and acquisition transactions in calendar 2024. That was the lowest annual total in its tracking series, which began in 2021, but activity accelerated sharply in the second half: 227 deals were announced in H2, the strongest half-year total since H1 2022. Publicly disclosed consideration totaled $50.75 billion across just 68 transactions, so the figure is not the value of the entire market—and an announcement is not proof that a deal closed.
This analysis explains what the count includes, where buyers concentrated, and what the numbers do (and do not) say about cybersecurity M&A. The underlying source is SecurityWeek’s February 13, 2025 analysis, a historical snapshot rather than a current 2026 deal tracker.
The short answer
- 405 cybersecurity-related transactions were announced in 2024.
- 269 involved pure-play cybersecurity companies.
- 227 were announced in the second half of the year.
- 286 involved North American companies and 124 involved European companies.
- $50.75 billion of value was publicly disclosed across only 68 deals.
The fairest verdict is “lower volume, stronger finish, and a top end dominated by large transactions”—not simply boom or collapse.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWhat SecurityWeek counted
SecurityWeek counted an announced merger or acquisition when the transaction had a cybersecurity component. Its database drew on news-distribution services, Google searches, public and private company announcements, PR-company pitches, and deals reported privately to SecurityWeek. It is therefore an announcement-based editorial dataset, not a regulator-verified or investment-bank-standard census.
#1 Best Overall
The count includes companies whose security products are only part of a broader portfolio. SecurityWeek also warns that some announced transactions may ultimately fail to close and that deals announced only in languages other than English may be missing. Throughout this article, “deal” means announced transaction unless a different status is stated.
Volume fell, but disclosed value held up
By annual count, 2024 was the weakest year in SecurityWeek’s 2021–2024 tracking series. Yet disclosed value was broadly similar to 2023: $50.75 billion in 2024 versus about $50.4 billion in 2023. There were also 11 transactions valued above $1 billion, compared with six in 2023.
Those facts can coexist because deal count and deal value measure different things. Most of the 405 announcements had no public price. The $50.75 billion is a disclosed-value subtotal, not an estimate of the market’s total value. Dividing it by 68 would produce a distorted “average,” because a handful of mega-deals account for a large share of the disclosed dollars.
The second-half inflection
SecurityWeek recorded 227 announcements in H2 2024—the highest half-year total since H1 2022. That late-year acceleration matters: a single annual number hides the difference between a soft first half and a much more active second half. It supports a conclusion of improving transaction momentum, but it does not prove better valuations, profitability, financing conditions, or closing rates.
Two useful lenses: broad and pure-play
The broad total is 405 cybersecurity-related deals. A narrower lens shows 269 deals involving pure-play cybersecurity companies. Of the 68 deals with disclosed terms, 52 involved pure-play companies and represented $28 billion in disclosed value.
That distinction prevents a common error: the 269 figure is not “all cybersecurity acquisitions.” Conversely, the 405 figure includes broader technology, networking, payments, enterprise-software, and services companies where security was one element of the business.
Rank #3
Where buyers were active
SecurityWeek’s categories are editorial groupings and are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The definitions also differ from narrower analyst-firm market taxonomies.
| Category | 2024 announcements | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) | 68 | Includes governance, compliance, risk, audit, assessments, vulnerability management, penetration testing, attack-surface management, offensive security and cyberinsurance—not only compliance software. |
| Data protection | 44 | Nearly twice the prior-year total; includes encryption, cryptography, VPN, privacy, backup and blockchain. |
| Network security | About 40 | Includes endpoint, MDR, XDR, NDR and SASE, making it broader than some network-only classifications. |
| Incident response | 38 | Up from 26 in 2023; includes SOAR, SIEM, SOC and forensics. |
| Government contractors | 38 | Roughly similar to 2023. |
| Application security | 31 | Up from 18 in 2023. |
| Identity | 28 | Down from 41; includes IAM, PAM, secure access, authentication and authorization. |
| MSSPs | 119 | Down from 155; only 43 were pure cybersecurity providers under SecurityWeek’s broad definition. |
SecurityWeek also recorded 16 industrial-security deals, 12 consulting deals, two consumer-security deals, approximately 24 private-equity-involved deals, eight AI-security deals, three blockchain-security deals and 27 specialized-category deals. AI and blockchain were newly separated in the 2024 analysis, so their totals are not clean year-over-year trend lines.
Geography: North America led, but the measure is “involved”
North American companies were involved in 286 deals and European companies in 124. The United States appeared most often, followed by the United Kingdom, which rose from 48 involved deals in 2023 to 67 in 2024. Australia, Israel, Canada and Germany were also prominent; Ireland and Sweden each recorded fewer than 10 deals in SecurityWeek’s comparison.
These are not necessarily buyer-only totals or mutually exclusive national counts. A transaction involving a U.S. buyer and a U.K. target may appear in both country or regional analyses, depending on the underlying classification. Read the figures as geography of companies involved, not as a definitive ranking of where acquirers were headquartered.
Notable billion-dollar transactions
| Buyer | Target | Reported value | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|
| HPE | Juniper Networks | $14 billion | Cybersecurity-related networking transaction; SecurityWeek noted it might not ultimately close. |
| Thoma Bravo | Darktrace | $5.3 billion | Financial-sponsor acquisition. |
| Hg | AuditBoard | $3 billion | GRC and assurance-related platform. |
| Mastercard | Recorded Future | $2.7 billion | Threat-intelligence acquisition by a broader payments company. |
| Salesforce | Own | $1.9 billion | Data-protection-related transaction by enterprise software company. |
| CyberArk | Venafi | $1.54 billion | Pure-play security transaction. |
| Gen Digital | MoneyLion | $1 billion | Broader consumer-finance technology transaction. |
These examples show why disclosed dollars and cybersecurity-company M&A are different lenses. HPE–Juniper and MoneyLion, for example, are not equivalent to buying a pure-play security vendor, even though SecurityWeek included them because of their cybersecurity relevance.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Private equity and MSSPs
Approximately 24 transactions involved private-equity firms, down from 37 in 2023. That is evidence of fewer PE-involved announcements in this dataset—not proof that private equity abandoned cybersecurity. Darktrace and AuditBoard demonstrate that sponsors still participated in major transactions.
Best Value
Similarly, the 119 MSSP deals require caution. SecurityWeek includes distributors and companies offering products or services beyond cybersecurity, and only 43 were pure cybersecurity providers. The total should not be read as 119 acquisitions of narrowly defined managed detection-and-response firms.
What the numbers imply—and what they cannot prove
The concentration in GRC, data protection, network security and response is consistent with buyers seeking platform breadth, assurance capabilities, data controls, incident expertise and distribution. In practical terms, an acquirer may be buying a missing product, a customer base, specialized talent, proprietary intelligence, a route into a regulated vertical or a way to reduce overlapping tools.
But category counts alone cannot establish each buyer’s motive, valuation multiple, target profitability, venture backing or integration plan. Nor do they show how many targets were distressed or acquired mainly for talent. Those questions require transaction announcements, filings and company-level diligence.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
What this means for different readers
Enterprise security buyers
- Check whether an acquired product will remain standalone or be folded into a platform.
- Review renewal terms, support commitments, data portability and integration promises before signing or extending contracts.
- Do not assume a larger owner automatically means better security outcomes.
Cybersecurity founders
- Show strategic relevance, durable customer retention, efficient growth and a clear budget owner—not just feature parity.
- Know which potential acquirers have a product or distribution gap your company can fill.
- Keep intellectual-property, security, financial and compliance records diligence-ready.
Investors
- Separate announced, pending, completed and terminated exits.
- Track how much disclosed value is concentrated in a few mega-deals.
- Treat category labels as directional because definitions and newly added categories can change.
Advisers and researchers
- Record announcement and closing dates separately.
- Normalize buyer, target, geography, category, price, funding history and final status.
- Deduplicate transactions announced by both parties.
Bottom line
SecurityWeek’s 405 figure describes announced cybersecurity-related transactions, not 405 completed acquisitions and not a $50.75 billion market. The defensible reading is more nuanced: 2024 had fewer announcements overall, a notably stronger second half, a high-value top end, and sustained buyer interest in assurance, data protection, network and response capabilities. Any investment or vendor-risk decision should go beyond the headline count and verify each transaction’s scope, price and closing status.
Source: SecurityWeek’s 2024 analysis; figures and category definitions are attributed to that report.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
