Symantec Acquires Mi5 Networks to Bolster Web Security

Symantec has acquired Mi5 Networks in a move meant to bolster its Web security portfolio.

Mi5 specializes in Web gateway security products. At the center of its technology is its S2 Streaming Engine, which examines Web inbound and outbound traffic for threats. The company most often competed with rivals such as Websense and Blue Coat. Now that it is a part of Symantec, the goal is to combine its security capabilities with Symantec’s existing e-mail gateway and endpoint security tools to combat Web-based malware.

“Our customers and partners have made it clear that security solutions that tie together multiple layers of protection offer the highest return for the lowest cost of management,” said Francis deSouza, senior vice president of the Enterprise Security Group at Symantec, in a statement.  “Moving forward, with the acquisition of Mi5’s Web security technology, Symantec is further addressing the fastest growing path for malware to infect network environments, and we look forward to integrating this technology into our security portfolio.”

Symantec did not disclose how much it paid for Mi5. However, the price tag was likely much smaller than the $695 million the company spent last year on e-mail and message security vendor MessageLabs.

In addition to the acquisition, the security vendor also announced the launch of the Symantec Protection Suite Small Business Edition, which integrates advanced threat protection technologies into a single agent with a unified management console to simplify management. The company is also releasing Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition, which includes Symantec’s endpoint security, messaging security and system recovery technologies. Both suites are slated to be available this summer.