Accenture Acquires Brazilian Cybersecurity Firm Morphus

Consulting firm Accenture has announced the acquisition of Brazilian cybersecurity firm Morphus as part of a strategy that includes launching a cyber industry practice for Latin America. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Established in 2003 in Fortaleza, in the northeast of Brazil, Morphus focuses on providing cyber defense, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence services. The company has offices in Recife, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago, Chile.

With the acquisition, Accenture will add over 230 specialists to its security practice, skilled in governance, risk and compliance services; enterprise risk management; cyber strategy; threat intelligence, and managed security services. In addition, the consultancy will absorb Morphus’ research, and development center focused on cybersecurity.

“Morphus’ security team will accelerate the growth of our industry practice in the region, nearly doubling our security footprint in Brazil”, said André Fleury, leader of Accenture Security in Latin America, in a statement.

“The acquisition complements our global practice and will allow us to help clients embed safety by design, enhancing the offerings we provide across a wide range of industries in Latin America,” he added.

The buyout also expands Accenture’s foothold in key sectors in which Morphus operates, such as communications media and technology, financial services, energy, retail, and aviation.

Accenture Security has made 16 acquisitions since 2015 and acquired Symantec’s cybersecurity services in 2020. The company’s deals in Brazil include the acquisition of Real Protect, a Rio de Janeiro-based provider of managed cybersecurity and security services (MSS), announced in 2021.

The scope for Accenture’s cybersecurity business in Latin countries such as Brazil is vast. According to the Cyber Defense Index published by MIT Technology Review Insights, Brazil is among the five countries with the slowest rate of progress in creating cyberdefense environments. The country appears in the 18th position in the overall global ranking regarding cyber readiness and regulations.

On the other hand, the study noted that laggards in regulation are trying to catch up. It added that the EU’s GDPR framework became the gold standard, with governments like Brazil looking to emulate it. The initial public consultation to shape its regulatory agenda was conducted by the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) in August 2022. ANPD is the cybersecurity agency responsible for enforcing the country’s 2018 general data protection law, which is similar to GDPR.