New Year's Surprise: Cybersecurity M&A, Funding Activity Snowballs in Q4 Mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity and investments in cybersecurity picked up once again in the fourth quarter after dropping off somewhat sharply in Q3.The other major fourth-quarter deal was PE giant Thoma Bravo's all-cash purchase of ForgeRock for $2.3 billion on Oct. 11.As examples, McAlpine points to Palo Alto Networks' $195 million acquisition of Cider Security in November; Proofpoint's purchase of Illusive for an undisclosed sum in December; and 1Password's acquisition of Passage in November, for an unknown sum.According to numbers that S&P Global Market Intelligence tracked, the first three weeks of October alone saw more M&A money move through the cybersecurity sector than the entire third quarter.In comparison, the aggregate deal values for all M&A transactions with disclosed values during the third quarter was just $3.06 billion — down more than 75% from the $13.77 billion during the same period in 2022, S&P Global Market Intelligence said."