ArcSight

About ArcSight

ArcSight, now a part of OpenText, operates as a cybersecurity product line specializing in security information and event management (SIEM). The company was incorporated in May 2000, initially as Wahoo Technologies, by founding CEO Alex Daly and founding CTO Hugh Njemanze. The initial business plan focused on a caching and acceleration platform, but early customer feedback revealed a more significant market need for analyzing and correlating the overwhelming volume of security event data. This strategic pivot led to the company being formally named ArcSight in January 2001 and laid the groundwork for its focus on SIEM technology.

The company's journey includes several significant ownership changes. In September 2010, Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced its acquisition of ArcSight for approximately $1.5 billion. Later, as part of HP's corporate restructuring, ArcSight was moved under Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). In 2017, HPE spun off its software assets, including ArcSight, which then merged with Micro Focus. Most recently, in 2023, OpenText acquired Micro Focus, bringing ArcSight into its portfolio of information management and security solutions.

ArcSight's core business revolves around providing big data security analytics and intelligence software to large enterprises and government agencies. Its business model is based on software licensing and subscriptions, with pricing often tied to the volume of data ingested or events per second (EPS). The product suite is designed to help security operations teams identify, prioritize, and respond to security threats in real-time. By collecting and normalizing vast amounts of log data from hundreds of device types, the platform enables comprehensive threat detection, incident investigation, and compliance management.

The flagship product, ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM), serves as a central hub for security operations. It utilizes SmartConnectors to gather event data from diverse network sources and converts it into a standardized format for analysis. Its correlation engine can process thousands of events per second to identify complex attack patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed. The platform's capabilities are extended by tools like ArcSight Data Platform for advanced data management and User Behavior Analytics (UBA), which leverages machine learning to detect anomalous activities and insider threats. Through integrations and a flexible architecture, ArcSight provides dashboards, reporting, and forensic analysis tools to give organizations a holistic view of their security posture and simplify audit activities.