Ivanti Explained

Logo Alt:Ivanti logo (wordmark) in red
Ivanti
Type:Private
Area Served:Worldwide
Foundation:1985
Location:South Jordan, Utah, U.S.
Key People:Jeff Abbott, CEO
Dennis Kozak, COO
Peter De Bock, CFO
Srinivas Mukkamala, CPO
Industry:IT security and systems management software
Revenue: (2023)
Num Employees:3070 (2023)

Ivanti is an IT software company headquartered in South Jordan, Utah, United States. It produces software for IT Security, IT Service Management, IT Asset Management, Unified Endpoint Management, Identity Management and supply chain management. It was formed in January 2017 with the merger of LANDESK and HEAT Software, and later acquired Cherwell Software. The company became more widely known after several major security incidents related to the VPN hardware it sells.

History

LANDESK

LAN Systems was founded in 1985 and its software products acquired by Intel in 1991 to form its LANDESK division. LANDESK introduced the desktop management category in 1993. In 2002 LANDESK Software became a standalone company with headquarters near Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2006, Avocent purchased the company for $416 million. Also in 2006, LANDESK added process management technologies to its product line and extended into the consolidated service desk market with LANDESK Service Desk. In 2010 LANDESK was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

LANDESK bought supply chain software company Wavelink in 2012, network vulnerability assessment and patch management company Shavlik in 2013, application software company Naurtech Corporation in 2014, data visualisation company Xtraction Solutions in 2015.[1] and AppSense, a provider of secure user environment management technology, in 2016.

Lumension Security

Lumension Security, Inc was founded as High Tech Software in 1991 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona[2] The company was rebranded as PatchLink Corporation in 1999. In 2016, Patrick Clawson was appointed chairman, CEO and president[3] The company then adopted the Lumension name in 2007.[4]

In 2009 Lumension acquired Securityworks,[5] and in 2012 acquired CoreTrace.[6]

Lumension products traditionally competed in the endpoint management and security industry against Sophos, McAfee, Kaspersky Lab, Symantec and Trend Micro among others.

HEAT

HEAT software was a producer of software for IT Service Management and Endpoint Management formed in 2015 by the merger of FrontRange Solutions and Lumension Security.

Ivanti

In January 2017 Clearlake Capital, owner of HEAT Software, purchased LANDESK from Thoma Bravo.[7] On January 23, 2017, LANDESK and HEAT Software merged to form Ivanti.[8] [9] The combined company has 1,800 employees in 23 countries[10] [11] and markets some products with references to their original names such as Wavelink supply chain software[12] and Ivanti patch product ‘powered by Shavlik’.

On April 12, 2017, Ivanti acquired Concorde Solutions, a UK based Software Asset Management company.[13]  In July 2017, Ivanti acquired RES Software, a US and Netherlands based company producing automation and identity management software.[14] Later merged in 2018 into the Workspace Manager product.[15]

In September 2020, Ivanti entered into an agreement to acquire US based Unified Endpoint Management company MobileIron for $872 million[16] and San Jose, California based Pulse Secure, for undisclosed terms.[17] On December 1, 2020, Ivanti announced those acquisitions completed.[18]

On January 26, 2021, Ivanti announced the intent to acquire Cherwell Software.[19]

On August 2, 2021, Ivanti acquired RiskSense, a pioneer in risk-based vulnerability management and prioritization, to drive the next evolution of patch management.[20]

Controversies

2021 Pulse Connect Secure hack

On April 20, 2021, cybersecurity firm FireEye reported that hackers with suspected Chinese government ties exploited Pulse Secure VPN to break into government agencies, defense companies and financial institutions in Europe and the US. The report detailed how hackers repeatedly took advantage of several known and one novel flaw in Pulse Secure VPN to gain access to dozens of organizations in the defense industrial sector.[21] [22] The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed the intrusions in a public advisory, urging network administrators to scan for signs of compromise. Ivanti published an emergency workaround which DHS urged network admins to install.[23] The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency ordered federal civilian agencies to take several steps to reduce risk from the suspected breach.[24] FireEye reported that some of the intrusions using the vulnerabilities began as early as August 2020, conducted by those with suspected ties to the Chinese government. There were similarities between the hack and intrusions in 2014 and 2015 conducted by a Chinese espionage actor named APT5.[22] After further examination, CISA discovered that at least 5 federal agencies had been breached, among 24 agencies that use the Pulse Connect Secure products.[25]

In January 2024, Chinese government hackers were reported to have targeted Ivanti software to break into other organizations.[26]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: LANDESK acquires Xtraction Solutions to bring business intelligence to IT. siliconslopes.com. 29 January 2018.
  2. http://www.lumension.com/Company/About-Us.aspx About Us
  3. http://www.lumension.com/Press---Events/Press-Releases/PatchLink-Adds-Security-Industry-Vereran-Patrick-C.aspx PatchLink Adds Security Industry Veteran Patrick Clawson to Drive Next Wave of Growth
  4. Web site: PatchLink born again as Lumension Security . Networkworld.com . 2007-09-11 . 2013-04-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080821190301/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/091107-patchlink-born-again-as-lumension.html . 2008-08-21 . dead .
  5. News: Lumension buys Securityworks in deal to expand compliance software . Phoenix Business Journal . 2009-04-20 . 2013-04-04.
  6. Web site: Lumension buys CoreTrace to bolster security offerings . Bizjournals.com . 2012-11-05 . 2013-04-04.
  7. Web site: Clearlake Capital to Acquire LANDESK and Combine with Portfolio Company HEAT Software. www.ivanti.com. 2018-01-02.
  8. News: Introducing Ivanti, LANDESK's new name for all of its products (including AppSense). BrianMadden.com. 2018-01-02. en-US.
  9. Web site: LANDESK and HEAT Software Merge to Form Ivanti. www.ivanti.com. en-US. 2018-01-02.
  10. News: New Ivanti brand for LANDESK-HEAT union to focus on unified secure workplace message - ChannelBuzz.ca. 2017-01-23. ChannelBuzz.ca. 2018-01-02. en-US.
  11. Web site: LANDesk and Heat Software Merge into Ivanti. redmondmag.com. 29 January 2018.
  12. Web site: Wavelink comes under Ivanti name after merger – DC Velocity. www.dcvelocity.com. 2018-01-02.
  13. Web site: Ivanti, formerly Landesk and Heat Software, buys software asset management vendor Concorde Solutions. crn.com.au. CRN. 29 January 2018.
  14. News: Ivanti scoops up RES Software: Here's our full analysis. BrianMadden.com. 2018-01-02. en-US.
  15. Web site: RES Workspace and Ivanti User Workspace Manager – Merger Update . Aug 14, 2018 . Jon . Rolls . Ivanti .
  16. Web site: MobileIron to be Acquired by Ivanti to Secure Every Endpoint and Power the Everywhere Enterprise. 2020-09-28. Mobileiron.com. en.
  17. Web site: Ivanti Announces Double Acquisition . Omnisperience. 29 September 2020 .
  18. Web site: Ivanti acquires MobileIron and PulseSecure. www.ivanti.com. 2021-03-09.
  19. Web site: Ivanti to Acquire Cherwell to Enable End‑to‑End Service and Asset Management. www.ivanti.com. 2021-01-26.
  20. Web site: Ivanti Acquires RiskSense to Revolutionize the Patch Management Market and Help Customers Proactively Combat Cyber Threats and Ransomware Attacks. www.ivanti.com. 2021-08-02.
  21. Web site: Check Your Pulse: Suspected APT Actors Leverage Authentication Bypass Techniques and Pulse Secure Zero-Day. 2021-04-30. FireEye. en.
  22. Web site: Brian Fung and Geneva Sands. Suspected Chinese hackers exploited Pulse Secure VPN to compromise 'dozens' of agencies and companies in US and Europe. 2021-04-30. CNN. 20 April 2021 .
  23. Web site: Exploitation of Pulse Connect Secure Vulnerabilities CISA. 2021-04-30. us-cert.cisa.gov.
  24. Web site: cyber.dhs.gov - Emergency Directive 21-03. 2021-04-30. cyber.dhs.gov. 16 July 2020 . en-US.
  25. Web site: Geneva Sands and Brian Fung. Five federal agencies potentially breached in Pulse Connect Secure hack. 2021-04-30. CNN. 29 April 2021 .
  26. Web site: Lyngaas . Sean . 2024-01-10 . Suspected Chinese hackers target US research organization in latest spying spree . 2024-01-12 . . en.