**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting merger and acquisition news from November and December.**

WatchGuard Technologies has acquired Percipient Networks, a developer of automated security offerings for small and midsize organizations.

Percipient’s flagship product, Strongarm, stops phishing and malware attacks by offering a security-focused Domain Name System (DNS) service. Financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed.

WatchGuard’s Prakash Panjwani

Prakash Panjwani, WatchGuard’s CEO, tells Channel Partners the acquisition reinforces his company’s commitment to “constant innovation, enabling our partners to always stay one step ahead of the next generation of security threats.”

“Once integrated into WatchGuard’s security platform, the Strongarm technology will further improve the security efficacy of our existing malware protection techniques, adding DNS-layer security and extending our filtering capabilities to all ports and protocols,” he said. “We believe that this presents an excellent opportunity for our partners to reinforce the value they provide to their existing customers who leverage WatchGuard’s Total Security Suite, as well as the opportunity to build an even stronger recruitment message when it comes to new-business generation. Integration of the Strongarm technology is already almost complete, so partners and customers can gain early access to the new capabilities later this month in an open beta. Once released shortly thereafter, the feature will be accessible at no additional charge to all WatchGuard Total Security Suite customers.”

Once Strongarm is fully integrated as a service in the Total Security Suite, WatchGuard will be the only unified threat management (UTM) vendor to offer comprehensive cloud-based phishing and malware protection at the DNS level,” Panjwani said.

“Phishing is one of the most common methods used to gain a first point of entry into an organization,” said Todd O’Boyle, Percipient’s co-founder and chief technology officer. “It is one of the most effective tactics because it targets people. As such, organizations must employ a two-pronged approach to combat phishing — malware-prevention services and employee education. By protecting users and using blocked attacks as an opportunity to educate, we significantly reduce the odds of that employee making the same mistake a second time. We are delighted to continue development of the product and our threat research team under WatchGuard’s leadership.”

Percipient partners can broaden their SMB security offering, and WatchGuard will work with each partner to ensure that every customer has the option to migrate to the company’s Total Security Suite, Panjwani said.

“There will be no change to how Percipient Networks supports or engages with their existing customers, regardless of their decision to remain on the standalone offering or migrate to the new WatchGuard solution,” he said.

Last Month, a report by WatchGuard showed cybercriminals increasingly are targeting midsize companies with massive increases in scripting attacks and overall malware attempts.