Accenture has announced plans to acquire a majority stake in operational technology cybersecurity specialist Dragos alongside full ownership of runZero and NetRise, as it bets $4.175bn on defending the world’s critical infrastructure against AI-driven threats.
The combined transaction, covering all three companies, is valued at approximately $4.175bn, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. The deals are expected to close in August or September 2026, pending regulatory approvals. Together, the three acquisitions are intended to give industrial and critical infrastructure operators a single platform through which they can monitor every asset on their OT network, assess what is running across it, and counter active threats.
Dragos brings proven OT threat detection capabilities, a vendor-neutral platform and a proprietary industrial dataset. These will be bolstered by runZero’s exposure assessment and attack-surface intelligence capabilities, and by NetRise’s software supply chain dataset and firmware-level visibility into device vulnerabilities. The combined solution is designed to address what Accenture describes as the extended high-growth OT environment, or “xOT,” which encompasses industrial control systems, Internet of Things devices, sensors, cloud-connected hardware, and adjacent IT infrastructure. As AI becomes embedded in both industrial operations and adversary tactics, the window between an IT breach and an OT attack is narrowing, making the need for unified xOT security increasingly urgent.
Accenture chair and CEO Julie Sweet said, “In an age when AI-driven cyber threats and geopolitical risk are evolving at a rapid pace, our cybersecurity practice is growing by double-digits and has a strong track record of leveraging inorganic opportunity to fuel organic growth. Our clients across industries and regions are asking us how to be more proactive and integrated in their approach to cybersecurity. The addition of Dragos, complemented by runZero and NetRise, fills this important need. We are confident Dragos’ differentiated OT platform will accelerate our growth in the critical infrastructure and industrial operations markets, driving long-term shareholder value through scaled adoption of advanced cybersecurity capabilities.”
Dragos will continue to operate as an independent business, headquartered in Hanover, Maryland, with its 580-strong workforce intact. RunZero, based in Austin, Texas, employs 66 people, while NetRise, also based in Austin, has a team of 57. HD Moore, CEO of runZero, Thomas Pace, CEO of NetRise, and Michael Scott, chief technology officer and chief scientist at NetRise, will take on senior roles within Dragos. The expanded business will continue to maintain Dragos’ vendor-neutral position and its existing product roadmap, supporting customers navigating complex, multi-vendor environments.
The deal extends a cybersecurity growth trajectory that Accenture has been building for over a decade. Its cybersecurity business generated $10bn in revenue in fiscal year 2025, up from $700m in 2016, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 35%. These new acquisitions are expected to move Accenture from its established position in OT cybersecurity services into the broader OT cybersecurity software market, which the company estimates at $27bn in 2026 and projects will grow to nearly $59bn by 2031. Previous OT-focused acquisitions include Cimation in 2015, Revolutionary Security in 2020, and further investments in Callisto, Electro 80, True North Solutions and SYSTEMA.
Dragos co-founder and CEO Robert M. Lee said, “Our energy and water systems, manufacturing plants, data centers and other operational environments need cybersecurity built from the ground up for xOT and designed to keep pace as threats evolve. The consequences of getting it wrong become societal threats. Organizations need solutions, not a patchwork of software and services. The addition of runZero and NetRise will allow the Dragos Platform to be a unique end-to-end platform for global defense, and Accenture will bring its decades of trusted relationships and deep expertise to help us scale and secure more critical infrastructure and physical operations globally.”
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