The IT consulting giant reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Dragos as well as two smaller companies to form a combined entity valued at $4.175 billion, in a massive operational technology (OT) security expansion by the company.
Big Moves In OT Security
Accenture announced Thursday that it’s embarking on a massive expansion within operational technology (OT) security through a deal to acquire a majority stake in Dragos, a well-known player in the space. The IT consulting giant also said it has an agreement to acquire two smaller cybersecurity vendors, NetRise and runZero, which together with Dragos will form a combined entity with an enterprise value of $4.175 billion. The deals are expected to be completed this coming August or September, according to Dublin, Ireland-based Accenture, No. 1 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2026.
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For Accenture, the move comes as clients are looking to the company for guidance on “how to be more proactive and integrated” in their cyber defense approach, Accenture chair and CEO Julie Sweet said in a quote included in a news release. The deals are particularly aimed at creating a more comprehensive platform for securing “extended” OT (xOT) environments, the company said in the release.
In a post, Dragos Founder and CEO Robert M. Lee wrote that the move to become an arm of Accenture is timely given the intensifying threat environment around critical infrastructure. Among the key factors is that “AI is expanding the attack surface faster than the defender community is growing,” Lee wrote. Dragos has specialized in security for OT systems and industrial control systems (ICS), which are utilized by many organizations in critical infrastructure sectors such as energy, water and manufacturing.
What follows are five more things to know about Accenture’s deal to acquire a majority stake in Dragos.
OT Security Push
In announcing the deal, executives from Accenture and Dragos suggested the move signals that OT cybersecurity has shifted from a secondary issue to a primary concern for many organizations. The shift is being driven by the continued growth in the connectivity of industrial environments, many of which are a part of systems considered to be critical infrastructure. At the same time, threat actor targeting of OT systems is rising fast, the companies said. Ultimately, “the threat to critical infrastructure is not slowing down,” Lee wrote in his post. “State-sponsored actors are getting more capable.”
Focus On xOT, AI
A particular emphasis for the deal is around protecting “extended” OT (xOT) environments, which comprise an “expanding mix of critical assets,” Accenture said in its news release. Those include industrial control systems and IoT as well as cloud-connected devices, sensors and other related IT infrastructure, according to the company. Meanwhile, AI is being increasingly fused with the operation of industrial systems, which will only “expand xOT environments further over the next several years,” the company said.
Dragos Rationale
Founded in 2016, Dragos has been a top name in the OT and ICS security space for years, with a platform offering key capabilities including asset visibility, vulnerability management, threat detection, investigation and response. The company has brought a focus on the channel including with the 2023 launch of a refreshed partner program to scale up its work with resellers and service providers. In his post, Lee (pictured) wrote that it’s the right time to become a wing of the largest player in the channel through its deal with Accenture. “Building xOT, with the best platform, the best intelligence, and with some of the best people in this industry, is what is required,” he wrote. “That is why we did this.”
Independent Company
The plan is for Dragos to remain the “standalone and independent company it’s always been,” Lee wrote in his post, noting that he will also remain as CEO of the company. Through the deal, however, “we were just granted an amazing partner with the OT and AI, services and technology expertise required, along with the financial capital, to accelerate us and our community,” he wrote. Upon completion of the three acquisition deals, Dragos will also subsume NetRise and runZero, adding to the capabilities Dragos acquired earlier this month with its deal for Phosphorus. As for its work with the channel, “we will work with any partners, even competitors to Accenture, and remain truly independent and neutral as everyone needs from us,” Lee wrote. “We chose Accenture because they are the right partner and no one comes close to their capability and their understanding of why this is necessary for our global communities.”
Market Opportunity
The deal also represents a major move by Accenture to expand beyond its established security services business and further into the realm of cybersecurity software, the company said. Accenture said the acquisitions aim to build on a cybersecurity business that reached $10 billion in revenue during its fiscal 2025, ended Aug. 31, 2025—up from $700 million in 2016. The broader OT cybersecurity market opportunity is estimated at $27 billion this year, while being forecast to grow to nearly $59 billion by 2031, Accenture said. The combined businesses of Dragos, runZero and NetRise are expected to be generating about $208 million in annual recurring revenue as of this month, up 53 percent year over year, according to Accenture.
