Secure Computing to Acquire Securify to Drive Next-Generation Firewalls

Secure Computing has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Securify in a bid to lead the charge for the next generation of network firewalls.

The deal for Securify comes with a roughly $15 million price tag, plus an earn-out of up to $5 million.

Securify technology focuses on monitoring and controlling user access to applications. By monitoring network traffic and leveraging transparent integration with user directories such as Microsoft Active Directory, Securify's technology identifies and alerts organizations to out-of-policy behavior in real time. It can also initiate automated blocking actions in routers, switches and firewalls.

"We're excited about this small, but highly strategic acquisition as it also positions Secure to drive the next generation firewall market," said Dan Ryan, president and CEO of Secure Computing, during a call with the press. "Securify will … drive our network applications security business unit along with Secure Firewall."

The combination of the two companies' technologies will provide a number of capabilities that Secure Computing officials described as essential for next-generation firewalls, including intrusion detection and prevention using signature and anomaly-based techniques. In addition, the acquisition adds application awareness and inspection to enable organizations to monitor and control all regular and encrypted traffic going in and out of their networks.

Other important capabilities include global reputation and geolocation protection, automatic baseline traffic discovery, and user- and group-based policy development and enforcement.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth calendar quarter of 2008, subject to certain closing conditions.