When you hear “data breach” or “computer hack”, you instantly think of a desktop PC or server room being the target, right? In today’s tech-savvy world, there are hundreds more products that are susceptible to such instances. With so many advancements to make vehicles, mobile devices, TVs and home appliances autonomous, data security is in high demand by both consumers and the M&A market. Whether you’re a credit reporting agency, airport, or presidential candidate, data security has never been so crucial.

 

Data breaches have continued to affect nearly all consumers, many governments, and large enterprises. In response, the major security providers - Symantec, MacAfee and Palo Alto Networks - founded the Cyber Threat Alliance to coordinate a variety of defense efforts. Anti-malware is the most active security sector today with respect to software M&A. There’s been a re-emergence of traditional security players into a space that has most recently been nominated by generalists like Cisco and FireEye. The Symantec-Blue Coat and Avast-AVG megadeals are the obvious indicators here. This re-emergence is good for sellers because it suggests that Symantec and Avast will likely be more active in security M&A overall.

 

If you’re in the security space, be sure to keep an eye on all ten of our Top Tech Trends – as each one of the other disruptors continues to open the data floodgates, this trend becomes more important than ever before.