Markon acquires another cyber company

Markon has acquired a provider of cybersecurity services as part of a push to become more of a full-spectrum competitor in that domain and further extend across defense agencies.

Millennium Corp. opened for business in 2004 and today employs 400 people who work on programs related to threat emulation, testing and evaluation, and intelligence support primarily for the Defense Department.

By purchasing Millennium, Markon is also looking to consolidate and expand both portfolios of independent research-and-development work to further scale it across the customer base. Financial terms of the transaction announced Friday were not disclosed.

Markon is also using the acquisition as a foray into red team operations, a cyber practice that involves a company’s own employees simulating threats against their network in order to learn how to defend it before problems arise.

“Our customers operate in increasingly complex and contested mission environments that demand both technical excellence and reliable execution,” Markon CEO Ray Carney said in a release. “By bringing Millennium into the Markon enterprise, we are expanding our ability to deliver integrated, mission-ready cyber solutions that span strategy, operations, testing, training, and sustainment.”

This transaction represents Markon’s third purchase with the backing of Sterling Investment Partners, which carved out the business during the summer of 2023, and second in almost two months that focuses on cybersecurity.

In December, Markon acquired PLEX to bring in a portfolio of cyber and artificial intelligence tools. Markon touted that transaction as growing it to a 600-employee workforce, indicating the addition of Millennium pushes that count past 1,000.

Millennium is also bringing with it a cybersecurity training and certification program called K>fivefour, which is designed to provide participants scenario-driven curriculum through five progressive levels. The idea is to bring red team, blue team and other mission roles into a single effort.

Blue team professionals conduct analysis work on information systems to identify security flaws and verify the effectiveness of network protection technologies.

Cohn Reznick, Morrison & Foerster, Dechert and Seyfarth Shaw were the advisers to Markon on this transaction. Prosperity Partners’ Pipaya division, Piper Sandler & Co. and Miles & Stockbridge were the advisers to Millennium.