Newly branded M86 buys Finjan for web gateway security

M86 Security on Tuesday acquired Israel-based Finjan to add a secure web gateway offering to its growing portfolio.

The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, means M86, formerly known as Marshal8e6, can offer medium and large businesses a hardware-based appliance that can recognize malicious websites and protect users from threats such as drive-by downloads.

M86's CEO John Vigouroux, the former Finjan CEO, told SCMagazineUS.com Tuesday that the company made the deal to fill a void in its product line. The company already had content filtering, email and some software-based web security offerings -- but now adds protection against some of the most sophisticated internet attacks, he said.

"It is a beautiful mesh with the technology M86 has," Vigouroux said, adding that Finjan has a large customer base in Europe.

Orange, Calif.-based M86 is expected to grow to $60 million in annual revenue, he said. The vendor will add about 70 employees from Finjan, while 30 -- mostly in administrative roles -- will be let go.

In total, M86 is expected to have about 320 workers.

It has been active past 12 months for the company. In November 2008, Marshal and 8e6 Technologies merged. In April, the company acquired start-up Avinti, maker of behavioral malware detection. Then, in September, the firm rebranded itself M86 Security.