Trend Micro acquires Provilla for data protection |
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By Bill Brenner, Senior News Writer
25 Oct 2007 | SearchSecurity.com |
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Trend Micro Inc. has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Provilla Inc., a vendor of fingerprint-based endpoint data leak prevention (DLP) products. Terms of the deal weren't revealed, but company officials said Thursday the acquisition will help Trend Micro provide customers with more effective data protection.
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We see this as an opportunity to build a complete data leak prevention product suite that fits with Trend Micro's philosophy of central security management.
Shu Huang,
chief technology officer, Provilla
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Eva Chen, CEO of the Tokyo-based security firm, said during a conference call with reporters that the deal continues Trend Micro's strategy to acquire technologies that compliment its own offerings.
"Solving the growing data leak problem will require broader and deeper insight into the multiple endpoint data leak vulnerabilities and the use of intelligent solutions that can identify sensitive data and prevent its misuse through endpoint devices and channels," Chen said. After a lot of research, she said, Trend Micro determined that Provilla has the best technology to meet the challenge.
Under the agreement, Provilla will function as a subsidiary of Trend Micro's U.S. affiliate. No final decisions have been made as to whether Provilla's products will undergo a name change, though company officials said those details should be worked out in the near future. For now, Trend Micro will continue to offer Provilla's stand-alone products while developing a game plan for gradually integrating Provilla's capabilities into its own enterprise, small and medium business products.
Based in Mountain View, Calif., Provilla's flagship product is LeakProof, which is designed to prevent data leakage with an approach that combines endpoint-based enforcement with fingerprinting technology called DataDNA. The company was founded two years ago.
"Our people are excited by the opportunity to join forces with the Trend Micro team, which is known for a commitment to technical innovation and to customers globally that starts at the top and permeates the ranks," said Shu Huang, Provilla's chief technology officer. "We see this as an opportunity to build a complete data leak prevention product suite that fits with Trend Micro's philosophy of central security management."
This is the latest case of consolidation in the DLP market. Earlier this month, for example, McAfee Inc. announced its acquisition of data encryption and access control vendor SafeBoot Corp. for $350 million.
These developments reflect the larger trend of consolidation in the IT security market, as standalone security vendors struggle to survive and big IT infrastructure providers use acquisitions to integrate more security into its product development lifecycles.
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