Internet Security Systems Inc (ISS), the Atlanta, Georgia-based network security company, is buying March Information Systems, the UK-based security assessment company, for $7.65m, to improve the value of ISS’s SAFEsuite products. ISS’s products inform the system administrator by automatically testing the entire network, both inside and out, and showing them how to plug the uncovered holes in network security. March is a developer of Windows NT and Unix-based security assessment technologies. It will be used to improve ISS’s SAFEsuite by incorporating security policy compliance across more Unix and Novell Netware platforms and user specific policy management from technical security vulnerabilities to user and applications usage and configurations. SAFEsuite is a designed to examine systems looking for exploitable security problems from an external hacker’s point of view (Internet Scanner), and from an internal disgruntled employee’s point of view (System Security Scanner). The final component looks at the system in realtime (RealSecure), by filtering network packets to ensure that the system is not being attacked at any particular time. ISS will pay $4.75m in cash and $2.9m in 120,000 ISS Group shares ($28 per share at the price on the 5th). March had revenues of $2m for the year ended March 31, 1998.
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