Defense contractor Raytheon has acquired security vendor Pikewerks to expand its cyber-security capabilities for its government customers.
The Pikewerks acquisition will allow Raytheon to help its customers in the intelligence community, Department of Defense and other commercial organizations defend against cyber-threats, the defense contractor said Dec. 5. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Raytheon said the acquisition was not expected to “materially” impact Raytheon’s sales or earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2011 or first quarter 2012.
Pikewerks would give Raytheon products focused on insider threat protection, software protection and forensics. Raytheon will use the technology to expand its cyber-security analysis and investigation capabilities.
“Developers at Pikewerks are experts who have taken technology from concept to deployment, and we are excited to welcome them as members of our innovative Raytheon team,” said Lynn Dugle, president of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business.
Pikewerks founder and president Sandy Ring and CEO Michael Ring are expected to stay on board with Raytheon following the acquisition.
Electronic Armor is an anti-exploitation software tool that protects executables, shared libraries and scripts from being accessed by unauthorized users. It thwarts attempts to reverse engineer software files and performs signature detection. Second Look is a Linux tool that captures and forensically preserves the contents of the computer’s memory. With Second Look, administrators gain a live forensics view of the affected system that is uninfluenced by any malware that may be installed.
Pikewerks also has “one of the industry’s largest repositories of kernel-level engineering talent” for the Linux operating system, according to Raytheon. It also received funding from United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work on the agency’s Dark Droid project, which aims to improve security in the Android mobile operating system.
Pikewerks, based in Madison, Al., is no stranger to government contracts as it already serves the federal government, research organizations and other critical industry partners. It recently announced contracts with the United States Army and Air Force. The U.S. Army contract is for extending GalaSec, Pikewerks’ distributed security and trust system, into a field-ready product that can provide the military with a secure communications channel for transmitting sensitive information.
Pikewerks will develop cyber-defenses for weapon systems used by the Air Force. Pikewerks also has a two-year contract to develop anti-exploitation techniques capable protecting security industrial control systems and supervisory control and data acquisition networks.
Raytheon has been beefing up its cyber-security portfolio through acquisitions in the past five years. The Houston Associates deal in 2006 provided Raytheon with the ability to understand network operations on a global scale, the company said on its Website. In 2008, Raytheon acquired SI Government Solutions, a provider of proprietary software security systems to the U.S. intelligence community, which “teaches us how to attack,” according to Raytheon.
The Oakley Systems deal from 2007, with technology used for combating insider threats and advanced persistent threats, “is showing us how to defend.” The Telemus Solutions acquisition in 2008 brought a “total security architecture,” according to the company.
Last year, Raytheon acquired Trusted Computer Solutions, a company with a comprehensive portfolio of cross-domain, operating system and network security products focused on data extraction and analysis as well as information assurance services.
Also last year, Raytheon paid $490 million for Applied Signal Technology, which provided military and intelligence agencies with equipment to locate and analyze electronic signals and cyber-security systems to protect computer networks. It also paid $334 million for BBN Technologies in 2009 to acquire cyber-security research and development capabilities.
