Web and email security firm M86 has acquired Finjan, a supplier of secure web gateway platforms, to round out its high-end enterprise product portfolio.
M86 was formed in November 2008 as a result of the merger of Marshal and 8e6 Technologies. Finjan is well known to the new venture as CEO John Vigouroux was at San Jose, California-based Finjan before joining M86.
Orange, California-based M86 is taking on Finjan’s global operations, products and technology and will integrate Finjan’s security labs, Malicious Code Research Centre, into M86 Security Labs. M86 will also maintain Finjan’s R&D centre in Netanya, Israel.
It is the second acquisition this year for M86, after the takeover of behavioural malware detection firm Avinti.
The two acquisitions round out M86’s product portfolio and will help it target larger enterprises, Bruce Green, president, international at M86, told CBR. “Marshall was strong in the SMB sector while 8e6 was strong in the education space. The new firm didn’t have the full functionality of a secure web gateway product,” he said. “Although M86 targeted customers in that space, it was an area we struggled in.”
M86 will begin selling Finjan products straight away, which Green hopes will provide the company with brand awareness in the market that it may have lacked previously.
Green added that the rise in threats from Web 2.0 technologies was another driving force behind the takeover. Finjan’s technology can provide real-time content inspection and code analysis to target malware delivered inbound through the Web channel. Finjan also offers Anti-Crimeware and Anti-Malware targeted specifically at Web 2.0-based attacks.
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“Web 2.0 is becoming a standard business tool and companies cannot stop workers using them,” Green said. “We’re seeing an increase in drive-by attacks that come and go very quickly. By the time a piece of malware has been identified and a solution found, it’s too late. Finjan’s technology gives us real-time protection.”
The acquisition will boost M86’s security offerings in the cloud and SaaS markets.
“The acquisition of Finjan supports our strategy to become the recognised leader in comprehensive inbound and outbound content security,” said Vigouroux. “With their real-time code analysis and our behaviour-based malware detection, M86 now offers industry-leading threat protection technologies on both the web and email, and can provide an effective way to enable these technologies on appliances, software, or in the cloud.”
Financial details of the acquisition have not been released.
