Microsoft is Now the Owner of ReFirm Labs, An IoT Security Start-up

Microsoft took this decision to buy ReFirm Labs to ensure improved firmware analysis for itself. Along with that, this inclusion also has the motive to enhance the security capabilities from Server to IoT.

The inclusion of ReFirm Labs with Microsoft will help the company develop its expertise in the field of Centrifuge firmware platform and firmware security. Director of Enterprise & OS Security of Microsoft, David Weston, says that this inclusion of ReFirm Labs will help the company enhance its ability to analyze and help with firmware protection, which will have the backing of Microsoft’s cloud power and speed.

The additional terms associated with the deal were not disclosed immediately. Following that, Microsoft also didn’t respond to the request put up by the media for some more comments on this initiative. As of Wednesday morning, the stock of Microsoft was up by 0.53% and $1.30, and the per-share price was $248.60.

ReFirm labs, founded in the year 2017, has 12 people working under the company profile. Since then, the company has already raised around $3.5 million within just three outside funding intervals. This statistic is obtained about the company from Crunchbase and LinkedIn. The company stated that it is willingly ready to partner with VARs and system integrators for proactively validating and monitoring the firmware security that is responsible for running over billions of devices and systems embedded with IoT.

ReFirm Labs mentions over its websites that vulnerabilities within the edge, IoT, and network devices are risk factors for consumer and enterprise security. Along with that, it also shared over the website that, after working with Microsoft, the company shares the same vision as that of ReFirm Labs. They believed that Microsoft understands the urgency of IoT security with the necessity of solutions such as Azure Sentinel, Azure IoT Defender, and Edge Secured-Core & Azure-sphere devices.

ReFirm Labs is also the author of Binwalk, an open-source software. This software is used for a decade now to analyse over 1000s of devices for issues related to firmware security. Along with that, this software is also used for uncovering the common vulnerabilities or exposures and other security problems.

The firmware analysis technology of ReFirm labs is what will help enhance the potential of Microsoft for securing OT and IoT devices, with the assistance of Azure Defender, says Weston. Before dealing with ReFirm Labs, Microsoft made buying deals with Waltham, Mass-Based IoT Security start-up, CyberX, less than a year before. The deal with Waltham was signed for $165 million, and this inclusion helped Microsoft safeguard the IoT devices used within industries, infrastructures, and operational technologies.

Weston says that Microsoft is excited to take this next step to add ReFirm Labs to address the firmware attack surface of IoT security and prevent adversities. Microsoft intends to work together and offer innovation and added value to the customers for securing their network-connected IoT devices.

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