Fortinet acquires Next DLP

Fortinet continued a spending spree in the summer of 2024 with the acquisition of Next DLP, a pure-play endpoint data loss prevention (DLP) startup. Next DLP introduced a fresh take on a space that felt overlooked with the continued migration from bolt-on heavy legacy DLP solutions to cloud-based security service edge (SSE). Normalization of hybrid work adds more security emphasis and a need for increased visibility on the endpoint.

As Fortinet continues to ramp up its SSE offering, it made a wise move to also increase its endpoint DLP capabilities. Some SSE leaders have added to this area in recent years, with varying degrees of success. With true differentiators between SSE platforms becoming harder to find, this could become the next capability customers look to in their decision-making process.

It's still very early for predictions, but the Next DLP Reveal platform should help Fortinet solve a number of use cases right out of the gate. Their lightweight agent means that customers can run it without agent glut concerns, or Fortinet could incorporate it into the existing Forticlient one day. Next DLP's endpoint application data controls solve blind spots that are inherent to network-based solutions, like the inability to decrypt traffic from some certificate pinned applications. Next DLP also has user coaching controls to allow for more than just allow/block in organizations that need to keep user impact to a minimum. Their support for Windows, Mac and Linux also sets them apart from existing endpoint DLP solutions.

One of Next DLP's most impactful additions to the Fortinet offering might be their advanced user behavior analytics. Next DLP helps organizations understand their users beyond just their search history and interactions with applications and sensitive data. They can fingerprint users down to the speed of their keystrokes and even recognize when activities are happening too fast for them to be done by the user. With their XTND AI assistant, Next DLP is delivering on the initial promise of AI by allowing analysts to submit suspicious activities to the platform and receive a timely report on what the user is likely trying to do.

The Next DLP acquisition puts Fortinet in a position to start telling a more detailed user and data centric story around the propagation of sensitive information from the endpoint. This is an exciting move for Fortinet that will bolster both its SSE and security operations offerings.