Check Point Software Technologies announced it has purchased Lacoon Mobile Security today. Reports surfaced last month that the company was in talks to buy the Israeli company for $80M.
No official price was given, but the deal is expected to close today.
The move gives Check Point a mobile security piece that’s a bit different from the traditional mobile device management you see from other companies, Alon Kantor, Check Point’s VP of business development told TechCrunch by email.
Mobile device management typically gives IT control over the device remotely to do things like a remote wipe if the phone is stolen or the ability to remove corporate data from a personal phone if an employee leaves the company.
Lacoon looks at mobile security from a different angle. “MDM manages the devices and the applications while the Lacoon solution is about securing these devices and blocking advanced mobile threats such as malware, [advanced persistent threats] or targeted network attacks,” Kantor explained.
It works on iOS and Android devices, collecting threat data and working alongside any other security infrastructure inside an organization.
R Ray Wang, principal at Constellation Research says the purchase gives Check Point a key mobile security tool. Instead of relying on MDM to react to a security threat after the fact, he says Lacoon is about proactively protecting data sitting on the device from attacks.
“Threat protection is one of those things where it’s about getting one step ahead,” Wang said. Rather than wiping after the fact, you prevent access to the device data in the first place.
Traditional MDM solutions manage the type of corporate data and applications that mobile devices can access and sets policies for how they are used, but device management practice misses an important factor: protecting those devices, and the data on them, from attacks, Kantor said.
“Lacoon’s advanced mobile threat technology complements MDM solutions by offering comprehensive, enterprise-grade mobile security that protects iOS and Android devices, apps, and the networks they depend on from advanced mobile threats,” he said.
Lacoon was founded in 2011 and according to Crunchbase, has raised $8M in a single round in October, 2013. If the $80M price tag is correct, investors did pretty well for themselves.
The move follows Check Point’s purchase of Hyperwise in February and could be part of a broader move by Check Point to update its security portfolio using its checkbook.
