Palo Alto Networks has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cider Security (Cider), an application security (AppSec) and software supply chain security company. Under the terms of the agreement, Palo Alto Networks will acquire Cider Security for approximately $195 million in cash, excluding the value of replacement equity awards, subject to adjustment.

The proposed acquisition supports Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud’s platform approach to securing the entire application security lifecycle from code to cloud. Combined with its recently announced Software Composition Analysis (SCA) capabilities, Prisma Cloud will now provide the industry’s most comprehensive supply chain security solution as part of its code-to-cloud security platform.

The diversity, velocity, and dynamic nature of today’s software engineering ecosystem have introduced a wide array of new security challenges and gaps, which have made the software supply chain one of the biggest emerging attack vectors for cyber attackers. The average CI/CD pipeline can have hundreds of developer tools connected to it, which poses an enormous security risk. While much attention has been put on where code comes from, very little has been placed on the applications and software used in the development pipeline.

The proposed acquisition is expected to close during Palo Alto Networks’ second quarter of fiscal 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on the company’s financials.