Cisco to Buy Network-Security Firm Lancope for $453 Million

Cisco and Lancope have been commercial partners for a few time, with Lancope’s threat visibility technology being used to turn a Cisco-run network into a security sensor.

“We are embedding threat protection capabilities from the enterprise infrastructure to the data center, from mobile to the cloud, and through to endpoints”, blogged Cisco’s veep.

The constant here is the fact that all these devices connect through specific networks, which can be monitored around the clock to spot changes in network behavior and remove any detected threats.

This has translated into big business for Lancope: the company uses systems it calls “NetFlow” and “StealthWatch” to essentially track all activity in networks in real time to look for any erratic activity. As a result, the firm can help clients detect, monitor, and analyze modern security threats. Lancope is regarded as an important tool to develop the company’s portfolio of security solutions.

“Cyber attackers are perpetually trying to stay one step ahead of these trends and becoming more adept at exploiting security weaknesses and avoiding detection”, wrote Rob Salvagno, a vice president at Cisco in a blog post.

Under the terms of the deal, Cisco will pay $452.5 million, as well as “retention-based incentives” for Lancope employees who join Cisco.

The acquired firm will become a key part of pushing forward Cisco’s “Security Everywhere” strategy, the idea of which is to provide all-encompassing advanced threat protection before, during and throughout the aftermath of an attack. Such circumstances require greater understanding of the machines on the network, in order to identify and counter cyber-threat. Cisco will take those solutions and improve its portfolio of enterprise management. The networking hardware giant has been investing heavily in security in recent years, in 2013 acquiring cybersecurity firm SourceFire Inc. for $2.7 billion and earlier this year buying OpenDNS, which helps route web traffic, for $635 million.

Cisco, of San Jose, Calif., said Lancope and its team would be folded into its security business group.