The two companies complement one another with DomainTools describing themselves as the leader in domain name and DNS-based cyber threat intelligence, while Farsight Security says they provide the world’s largest real-time actionable threat intelligence on how the Internet is changing observing over 200,000 DNS resolutions per second.

The move comes as ransomware has become one of the biggest financial threats to the global economy. According to a report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department, ransomware has cost the U.S. nearly $600 million in the first half of 2021. To combat this and other online threats, security teams need comprehensive threat intelligence and investigation capabilities to early identify patterns behind adversary infrastructure that can help them anticipate and proactively defend against future moves by threat actors.

Farsight’s market leading DNS observation data combined with DomainTools best-in-class active DNS data gives customers the earliest and most comprehensive look into threats emerging outside their network. Farsight Security DNSDB is the world’s largest DNS intelligence database with more than 100 billion domain resolution records updated in real-time with over 300,000 unique DNS resolutions per second worldwide. DomainTools Iris is a proprietary threat intelligence and investigation platform that combines superior domain and DNS infrastructure intelligence and risk scoring with industry-leading passive DNS data from Farsight Security.

“DomainTools and Farsight have proven the value of our combined data sets and integrated intelligence solutions over many years. Our unified solution is used by some of the most sophisticated security organizations worldwide to increase the effectiveness of their threat intelligence and incident response capabilities,” said Tim Chen, CEO, DomainTools. “This acquisition enhances our ability to drive security-forward detection, investigation, enrichment and mitigation outcomes for our joint customers while accelerating our data science advancements for predictive risk scoring of domain names, hostnames, IP addresses, nameservers and other DNS indicators.”

“Over the years, DomainTools and Farsight have consistently delivered market-leading DNS intelligence and real-time security telemetry needed to defend against today’s cyberattacks,” said Dr. Paul Vixie, Chairman, Cofounder and CEO of Farsight Security. “We recognize the immense opportunity this acquisition presents not only for both companies, but also for our global customers. We are thrilled to join DomainTools at this next stage of the company’s growth and, together, help to make the internet safer for everyone.”

In a blog post on the Farsight website, company founder Dr. Vixie outlined how in July 2013 a management buyout of his former company led to the creation of Farsight Security. Eight years later on 2 November 2021, the sale of Farsight to DomainTools was completed “after almost a year of corporate development work during which time we spoke to dozens of potential investors and potential acquirers.”

For Dr. Vixie it appears retirement beckons. In a post on the Farsight blog, Dr. Vixie writes “It happens sometimes when a company is acquired that the Founder/CEO chooses not to continue with the combined entity, and so it is for me. I am indescribably proud of what we’ve accomplished and what those accomplishments can mean for the course of human history, but I am also aware that the company’s need for me is more in the past than in the future. This is my fifth startup, and I expect it to be my last. I will continue as a Strategic Advisor to my friend Tim Chen (CEO of DomainTools), assisting with the integration of two companies into one, and helping with outreach. I will also continue as a Director at SIE Europe U.G., and as a technical advisor to Fuxi Institute where SIE China will be built.”