M86 targets the web gateway with Finjan buy

M86 Security, the company formed from the merger of Marshal and 8e6 Technologies, has made its first major acquisition with the purchase of Finjan.

The deal is designed to extend M86's capabilities in the secure web gateway market.

The acquisition and integration of Finjan's assets, technology and people will begin immediately, the firm said, and Finjan's security labs, the Malicious Code Research Center, will be merged into the M86 Security Labs.

"Part of our strategy was to focus on the secure gateway market. We looked at building our own functionality, but it would take too long so we started talking to Finjan," explained Bruce Green, president of M86 Security.

"It will be the second half of 2010 before the security is really integrated, but we can hit the ground running now."

Green explained that Finjan's real-time content inspection and code analysis technology targeted at inbound web-based malware will be positioned as M86's " high-end enterprise secure web gateway".

This will provide the company with opportunities to upsell to customers currently using M86 Security's R3000 web filtering product, he said.

Financial details of the deal, which follows M86's acquisition of behavioural detection firm Avinti in April, were not disclosed.

Green did not rule out further merger activity. "We are always looking at where we can add additional pieces of technology or functionality, although we will spend a bit of time now getting our products integrated," he said.