Will consolidation in cybersecurity continue in 2025?

Throughout 2024, we’ve witnessed a trend gathering pace in cybersecurity: the platformisation of cybersecurity services, with major companies investing in product-only acquisitions. Increasingly, cybersecurity firms or large organisations with in-house cybersecurity teams can’t develop innovative solutions quick enough to keep up with evolving threats – and integrated platforms offer a faster route to resilience. 

In a LinkedIn post, Nikesh Arora (CEO at Palo Alto Networks) said he believes the future of cybersecurity will rely on integrated platforms – because we don’t have the luxury of time to develop bespoke solutions for every problem. “There is a growing mismatch between speed of an attack and the speed of resolution,” he wrote; 

“So don't take a parochial view of platforms and don't call it bundling – it's an integrated strategy that delivers faster security outcomes leveraging AI, lower TCO for our customers and cost savings from reducing multiple sensors with a few.” 

The shift towards platformisation is also driving changes in investment strategies among angel investors, VCs, and government investment funds – particularly as platforms expand their utilisation of AI to increase efficiencies and effectiveness. 

Will platforms make traditional cybersecurity solutions obsolete? 

Right now, signs do point to integrated platforms becoming more widespread than fragmented solutions – and a growing number of CISOs are taking the decision to invest in integrated platform solutions. 

Cybersecurity isn’t an industry where a few large firms are in control, however. New threats are emerging constantly, and this means that innovation is absolutely essential to the future of cybersecurity – and when a small number of vendors hold a monopoly, innovation is stunted. 

This means that entrepreneurship and startups will always be valued in cybersecurity. It’s critical that we keep making space for fresh ideas and out-of-the-box thinking, and integrated platforms can’t be leaned on to such a degree that innovation is diluted. 

CISOs will continue to explore the potential of platforms to provide quick, effective, and holistic solutions to the problems they face. But they’ll also need standout solutions that can protect against emerging threats – even if those solutions don’t always fit neatly within an integrated platform. 

Cybersecurity consolidation will be a key investment focus 

While point solutions will continue to be developed and acquired, AI-powered integrated platforms will be a key focus for cybersecurity investors over the coming year and beyond. 

Platforms can offer enhanced security effectiveness through comprehensive protection that combine a wide range of security measures and allow full-system visibility; and minimise the attack surface by consolidating security functions that might otherwise be handled by disparate solutions. 

They also drive enhanced operational efficiency and cost efficiency – and all of this enables improved security outcomes that minimise operational downtime when a threat is detected or a breach occurs. 

These factors make integrated cybersecurity platforms an increasingly attractive investment opportunity; and potentially a lower-risk opportunity than best-of-breed solutions. 

CISOs and cybersecurity investors – put Black Hat MEA 2025 on your radar to gain a clear view of developments in integrated platforms.

Pre-registrations will open soon, or you can register to exhibit at BHMEA25 now.