Microsoft To Acquire Cybersecurity Firm Hexadite For AI Based Threat Detection

It's been a busy week for Microsoft on the security front, and for very different reasons. Earlier this week, we reported on a move by Kaspersky to shed light on the Redmond company's alleged antitrust behavior. Kaspersky claims that Microsoft promotes its own Windows Defender security solution too heavily, while at the same time putting roadblocks in place to make third-party solutions look less attractive.

Well, if that wasn't a sure sign that Microsoft cares a lot about its security solution (even if it's a bit too aggressive about it), today's news of an impending security-related acquisition helps bolster that sign even more.

Israeli company Hexadite is about to join the computing giant, with Microsoft allegedly paying $100 million for the benefit of bringing the firm under its wing. Hexadite has been taking advantage of artificial intelligence to detect and handle threats as they creep out of the creator's computer and into the wild.

AI is used by Hexadite to preemptively detect a threat before any real person can even acknowledge it. This kind of heuristic analysis is important as our fast-moving world and rapidly-developed software can lead to brand-new threats coming out on a daily basis. Being able to use smart computing to detect these threats before they can do serious damage can offer a lot of value for both the regular consumer, and the enterprise market.

Microsoft says that data breaches can often cost companies between $12 million to $17 million per incident, which would encompass costs associated not just with fixing the issue, but also lost productivity. That makes the ~$100 million purchase price of Hexadite seem rather modest, or a complete steal for a company like Microsoft. And if it makes Windows Defender better, basically every Windows user wins.