Dive Brief:
- CyberMaxx acquired Avertium, adding Microsoft, offensive security and governance, risk and compliance capabilities to its managed security services portfolio, the companies announced Wednesday.
- The managed security services provider will in-house GRC services it previously referred to partners. Avertium will also add Microsoft security expertise that midmarket clients demand, CyberMaxx VP of Marketing and Alliances John Pinkham told Channel Dive.
- “We just didn't quite have in-house capabilities to support Microsoft from an MDR perspective, but Avertium is probably one of the leading Microsoft MDR companies in the market,” Pinkham said.
Dive Insight:
CyberMaxx is aiming to be a consolidator as MSSP deal volume ramps up. The firm acquired Corvid Cyberdefense in January to shore up its email protection capabilities, a year after it bought Cybersafe Solutions and onShore Security. A 2021 private equity investment from Periscope Equity and a 2025 credit facility granted by Comvest Credit Partners have helped fund the acquisition push.
CyberMaxx was particularly keen on filling gaps in its Microsoft practice. Pinkham said many customers in the 500 to 5,000-seat range have licenses for the Microsoft Sentinel security information and events management platform but don’t know how to use it. Avertium joined the Elite Microsoft Sentinel partner that helped shape product development for the software giant’s SIEM platform. It also has expertise in the full Microsoft 365 suite, including Microsoft Intune, Entra, Purview, Copilot and Defender, Pinkham said.
CyberMaxx also expanded its professional services through the deal. Avertium’s offensive security ranges from penetration tests to purple team exercises. Pinkham said the company previously employed compliance experts but had downgraded its focus on that aspect of security services. If a customer needed help with CMMC or HIPAA compliance, CyberMaxx would refer them to a third-party group. Now, an Avertium team will fill that role.
“Before we would just say, ‘We've got a partner. Please go ask them,’” Pinkham said. “It's nice to say, ‘You can stay here, and we'll help you work through it.”
The two companies have complementary channel strategies. Both sell through technology services distributors and the technology advisors underneath those TSDs. None of their TSD partners overlapped, however. CyberMaxx held agreements with Telarus, Intelisys, AppDirect and Sandler Partners, while Avertium partnered with Avant and GTS.
The acquisition will effectively fastrack an Avant agreement Pinkham said CyberMaxx has been eyeing for the upcoming year.
“The acquisition's been done for a couple days, so we're still wading our way through,” Pinkham said. “There's a little bit of overlap in some of the TAs that we work with, but I think it's all going to be great. The initial feedback we've gotten from all partners has been, ‘Oh, that's very exciting.’”
Roughly 90% of CyberMaxx’s bookings come via channel partners — predominantly TSDs and TAs — according to Pinkham
“Our growth is definitely going to be on the back of channel going forward,” he said.
The key to growing with channel partners is proving that CyberMaxx will stay the course as MSSP consolidation heats up.
“We hear a lot from channel partners that when companies want to sell through the channel they offer big spiffs, and then they're gone within a year because they're just a fly-by-night sort of company,” Pinkham said.
Its commitment to acquiring, rather than being acquired, is one of CyberMaxx’s strongest proofpoints, per Pinkham.
“We're really focused on being a durable company that's here to stay,” he said. “We want to be the consolidator, and so that seems to be what the channel likes to hear: that you guys aren't going away with our commitments.”
