Cisco to Acquire ThreatGRID to Bolster Malware Analysis and Detection Capabilities

Cisco Systems is planning to acquire malware analysis and threat intelligence solution provider ThreatGRID.

The financial details of the deal were not made public.

“Cisco’s recent acquisition of Sourcefire, coupled with its vision for addressing the current and evolving threat landscape through technologies that target threats across the attack continuum, resonated with [CEO Dov Yoran] and me,” blogged Dean De Beer, who founded the company along with Yoran. “We both strongly believe that ThreatGRID can play an integral part in realizing Cisco’s security strategy.”

“ThreatGRID’s public and private cloud sandboxing combines dynamic and static malware analysis with threat analytics to produce continuous, real-time threat intelligence, enriched by global and historical context,” he continued. “The acquisition of ThreatGRID is a natural extension of Cisco’s advanced threat protection offerings and enhances Cisco’s Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) portfolio. This integration will help to identify and prevent advanced cyber threats by addressing the entire attack lifecycle.”

According to Cisco Senior Vice President Hilton Romanski, ThreatGRID’s technology builds on Cisco’s Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) portfolio. The AMP technology came from Sourcefire, which Cisco acquired last year. ThreatGRID’s on-premise products also expand Cisco’s ability to help protect customers with in-house data retention requirements, Romanski blogged.

“AMP addresses our customers’ security needs from network to endpoint and delivers comprehensive malware-defeating capabilities, including detection and blocking, continuous analysis and retrospective remediation of advanced threats,” he added. “The combination of Cisco and ThreatGRID will enhance our already strong capabilities to aggregate and correlate data to identify advanced and evasive cyber threats and provide intelligent cybersecurity solutions for the real world.”

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014.