F5 Networks has announced that it has agreed to acquire Versafe, a provider of web anti-fraud, anti-phishing, and anti-malware solutions.
Versafe, an Israeli-based company, provides advanced web and mobile protection solutions combined with its Security Operations Center, and adds ‘greater breadth’ to F5’s existing security solutions.
"The acquisition supports F5’s vision and commitment to provide our customers with secure access to data and applications from any location; from any device," said Karl Triebes, EVP of Product Development and CTO at F5.
"Web applications are under increasing attack, which can lead to the theft of intellectual property, money, sensitive data and identity. Versafe provides comprehensive, real-time detection and protection for every user, every device and every browser."
"Businesses with mission critical and sensitive web operations need a trusted advisor for security and one with a deep understanding of cyber-crime," said Eyal Gruner, co-founder of Versafe.
"Together, F5 and Versafe plan to provide this support and deliver immediate protection against fraud, phishing, pharming, man-in-the-middle and malware threats. We look forward to joining the F5 team and bringing new security solutions to our customers."
Versafe, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, offers solutions as a subscription service, protecting against fraud and the theft of intellectual property — without requiring any software download or device registration. Their solution detects malware-born fraud and other client side online threats for mobile and web applications, with the ability to scale from mission-critical enterprise applications to the largest transactional sites on the web.
"We’d been working with the guys as Versafe for while now, even locally here with some of the customers. What they have is a very clever way to stop malware coming from the client back into the application. And they’re using F5 as a delivery mechanism to deliver that protection to the client," said Gary Newe, senior Systems Engineering Manager at F5.
"An online banking example – if you’re setting up online banking and your machine is infected with malware – Versafe will inject themself into the webpage coming out from the server and they’ll take the malware and block it, and they’ll use our platform to deliver that because we’re sat in the middle of the user and the application."
He added: "It makes sense from an acquisition point of view for us, because it bolsters our own security message when we talk about the context of users and what they want to do."
Nick Bowman, manager of EMEA Corporate Communications at F5 Networks, said: "F5 is all about application understanding and user understanding, so to add an acquisition that puts a further layer of security on top of that without applying any extra software on the client (anything that banks wouldn’t want you to do)is a natural extension for us. It’s all about treating people accordingly within the context. That’s what we stand for in many senses."
