Columbia, Maryland, cyber firm Attila Security has been acquired by an Ashburn company looking to expand its product offerings and its market share among defense and intelligence organizations.
ID Technologies LLC announced Thursday it has acquired Attila, a company that has been developing products that allow customers, especially those in the national security sector, to gain secure access to classified government networks from remote locations. Chris Oliver, CEO of ID Technologies, said adding Attila's team and technology will allow his firm to acquire new customers, expand its market footprint and enhance its product offerings to customers in the national security space. The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal.
ID Technologies specializes in providing IT products and services to government customers, especially in the defense and intelligence communities. The company will incorporate Attila's tech into its portfolio of products called Archon, which offers secure personal and remote technologies for employees of large organizations and government agencies.
Oliver said in statements the acquisition of Attila is part of his company's investment in products and innovations to serve customers "that need to access classified data from anywhere the mission demands.” He noted the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in "significant growth" in demand and market opportunity among government organizations whose employees have had to work off-site, but also maintain access to classified data and information. Joining forces to offer customers more remote access and security products "just made sense" for both firms, he said.
Neither Oliver nor Gregg Smith, Attila's CEO, disclosed the employee headcount of their respective firms. Oliver confirmed that Smith and the entire Attila team were brought over to work with ID Technologies in the deal.
Smith said as part of its growth plans, Attila talked to and considered several potential investment and strategic partners before deciding to enter into a deal with ID Technologies. He said the firms had a shared vision for creating a full-service platform of commercial technologies for customers working in classified environments. The companies also had an existing relationship, with ID Technologies serving as a reseller of Attila's tech.
"We were serving slightly different areas of the market. And combined, we felt we could be a dominant force in this marketplace," Smith said. "Together we can solve a pretty significant problem many government agencies face today."
Attila was founded in 2018 and is backed by under $5 million in funding, according to research by PitchBook. The company is a portfolio member of Fulton-based cyber startup studio and investment operation DataTribe.
ID Technologies is backed by private equity organization The Acacia Group, though the company has not disclosed how much investment it has received to date.