Identity Is the New Perimeter — Barracuda Just Bought the Key

Barracuda Networks has acquired Evo Security, an identity and access management provider purpose-built for managed service providers, expanding its BarracudaONE platform to create what the company describes as the industry's most comprehensive partner-first identity security stack. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

The acquisition fills a deliberate gap. Barracuda CEO Rohit Ghai said enterprise identity platforms are typically designed for large organisations with dedicated security teams, making them overly complex and expensive for smaller businesses, while point products fail to provide comprehensive protection. The acquisition came after Palo Alto Networks acquired CyberArk, which Ghai described as a clear signal that identity needs to be part of a broad cyber resilience platform — and that the same need is even more pronounced in the SMB and mid-market segment. 

The integrated platform will unify privileged access management, access control, identity protection, and identity threat detection, forming what Barracuda calls a complete identity-driven cyber resilience foundation engineered for the speed, scale, and sophistication of AI-era threats. Identity-based attacks have surged, with a 71% increase in attacks using stolen credentials making unified identity security essential for modern cybersecurity. 

A standout technical addition is just-in-time privileged access management, which ring-fences MSP technician identities by assigning temporary, task-specific privileges that are automatically revoked when the work is complete — directly following the zero-trust, least-privilege model. Half of all MSP help desk tickets are access-related, and this shift addresses one of the biggest operational burdens facing managed service providers at scale. 

Evo Security, founded in 2018 in Austin, Texas, built its platform from the ground up with the persona of an MSP technician in mind — a decision that Evo founder and CEO Michael Roth said resulted in a platform that is easier to use, easier to deploy, and easier to operationalise than enterprise tools adapted downmarket. The platform consolidates disparate account security tools into a single product, offering multifactor authentication, single sign-on, and privileged access management in one place. 

Barracuda is positioning the acquisition around the concept of identity resilience — helping partners manage who gets access, how privileges are granted, how identity systems are protected, and how identity-based attacks are detected and responded to. The PAM managed services market reached USD 5.2 billion in 2024 and continues to grow at 12.6% annually, creating a significant and fast-moving opportunity for MSPs to deliver high-value, identity-centric security services. 

Evo Security's entire team has joined Barracuda, and its technology will be embedded into BarracudaONE. Barracuda confirmed it will continue to support Evo Security's existing MSP customers as the platform expands. The acquisition positions Barracuda directly against the enterprise identity incumbents — with a platform built not for the Fortune 500, but for the millions of small and mid-size businesses that need enterprise-grade identity security at a price and complexity level they can actually use.