Cloud security provider Wiz has signed a strategic deal with Rescana and Aspiration Japan. The three companies will collaborate to create a new security offering targeted at Japanese businesses. By integrating their security solutions, Wiz and Rescana will create a new comprehensive cloud security solution. Meanwhile, Aspiration Japan will contribute its experience in the security consulting market.
Dali Rajic, COO & President, Wiz, said, “We are excited to collaborate with Rescana and Aspiration Japan to bring a state-of-the-art cloud security solution to the Japanese market.
“This partnership underscores our commitment to providing organizations everywhere with the best possible protection against evolving cyber threats.”
Cloud growth in Japan is driving the need for new tools
There has been a significant increase in threats against cloud environments used by Japanese companies. According to Japan’s National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC), many of those threats are linked to China. Year-on-year, the number of major threats detected is rising at almost 60%.
A week ago, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced that it would create a new department to handle infrastructure cyber defence. It is expected to start working in 2025, but its focus will be primarily on government infrastructure.
Wiz, Rescana and Aspiration Japan are looking to provide support now rather than wait for the new cyber defence unit to go live. They say that cloud adoption by businesses has grown 24% in the last year alone. That growth is ahead of analyst projections, which suggested a CAGR of 20.5% for the period 2021-2026.
Protecting against cyber-attacks is not the only focus here. Regulators compliance demands are increasing rapidly. Those come with increasingly tougher fines and the risks of reputational damage when customer’s personal data is lost. Among the regulations called out by the announcement are GDPR, HIPAA, and Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI).
What is the New Comprehensive Cloud Security Suite?
Wiz entered this partnership with an existing suite of cloud security tools. Rescana also has a set of cloud security tools, but there is remarkably little overlap between the two vendors.
Of interest to Wiz is Rescana’s Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) technology. Rescana has added AI enablement to its CTEM solution. That allows it to not only continuously monitor for threats but also identify and adapt to new threats that it finds.
It also assesses the risk to assets in real time and prioritises remediation. This is essential as organisations move assets to the cloud. Many organisations spend a lot of time doing patch management without knowing the risks each vulnerability poses to their systems.
Using Wiz and Rescana’s tools, the goal is to deliver a risk-based automated vulnerability detection and patching process. Automation also removes the human element from patching and response. It lowers costs and improves cybersecurity.
The release says that the key features in the Comprehensive Cloud Security Suite are:
- Proactive Threat Intelligence
- Continuous Threat Exposure Management
- Advanced Vulnerability Management
- Holistic Cloud Security
- Tailored Security Strategies
- Seamless Integration and Implementation
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
What is interesting about this announcement is that it is being portrayed as a partnership rather than an acquisition or merger. There is no question that Wiz has the funds to acquire Rescana. In April it raised US$1 billion, valuing the company at $12 billion. It has yet to make any major acquisition with those funds.
Also interesting is the role of Aspiration Japan. It is a security consulting firm and, therefore, has a customer base for this new cloud security suite. Will it become a major reseller for the suite? Will it create and manage a channel for Wiz? Is it a business that Wiz will look to acquire to expand its growth in the consulting market?
The new product suite will interest a lot of businesses in Japan. Interestingly, the focus of the announcement is that it is specific to Japan. That makes little sense. Many organisations outside of Japan would also adopt the new cloud security suite. Will we see Wiz do similar deals with security consulting companies in other countries to launch there?
