Sword & Shield Enterprise Security, a leading national cybersecurity firm based in Knoxville, has been acquired by Sunstone Partners, a highly-regarded growth equity firm. The acquisition will bring together Sword & Shield, Terra Verde of Phoenix, Arizona, and TruShield of Reston, Virginia, to form Avertium.

Avertium’s combined base of more than 1000 active customers receiving advisory, managed, and training services across mid- to large-sized businesses will now have access to more than 100 highly certified security subject matter experts.

“Our willingness and ability to listen to our customers and respond to their needs resulted in programs that facilitated our success and gained Sunstone’s attention,” said Sword & Shield CEO and President John McNeely. “With the additional resources a growth equity firm provides, we can better serve the middle market and provide enhanced services for enterprise customers.”

The merger will result in a robust information security services portfolio, while continuing Sword & Shield’s tradition of exceeding customer expectations.

Sword & Shield’s commitment to delivering a great customer experience, being flexible and its ability to anticipate customer needs positioned it as an industry leader warranting acquisition.

The former Sword & Shield and TruShield comprise Avertium’s East operations. Terra Verde now serves as Avertium’s West location and provides a second security operations center (SOC) to current customers. In addition, John McNeely has assumed the position of general manager for Avertium’s East operations, and Jeff Schmidt of Atlanta is Avertium’s CEO.

“We believe cybersecurity is elemental and is a core component that should exist within any company operating in the 21st century,” said Jeffrey Schmidt, Avertium CEO. “Through Avertium we have an opportunity to fuse the unique services, capabilities and solutions from all three of these award-winning companies together, to create more value for customers while delivering the next generation of cyber and compliance solutions and services into the market.”

Sword & Shield has provided cybersecurity risk and compliance expertise for more than 22 years. The company’s more recent entry into the managed security market has proven a success, with the company repeatedly earning a place on top national and global managed security service provider (MSSP) lists such as CRN’s MSP 500, MSSP Alert’s Top 100 MSSPs, and Cybersecurity Ventures’ Cybersecurity 500.

Sword & Shield is known for its creation of subscription-based models, such as its groundbreaking HIPAA Compliance Program and virtual expert outsourcing packages, which enable a smooth payment structure and on-tap resources for customers throughout the year.

Securing business for more than 20 years, Sword & Shield Enterprise Security, Inc. https://www.swordshield.com partners with customers to meet the needs of their dynamic cybersecurity and compliance landscape. The company works closely with its customers to become tightly integrated with their enterprise operations in the areas of managed security, risk and compliance, enterprise security consulting, security incident response and forensics, and security training.

Recognized nationally and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Sword & Shield has offices throughout the US.

Avertium is a leading provider of cybersecurity, risk and compliance assessment services and was created as a result of the acquisition of Terra Verde Security, TruShield and Sword & Shield by leading growth equity firm Sunstone Partners. With more than 150 employees and growing, and security operations centers in Arizona and Tennessee, the company serves more than 1,800 customers in the retail, healthcare, hospitality, financial services, manufacturing and government sectors. For more information, visit www.avertium.com.