IBM confirms Polar Security acquisition

IBM has confirmed its purchase of Israel-based data security posture management startup Polar Security, which it will be consolidating into its Guardium unit, reports TechCrunch. Terms of the acquisition deal have not been disclosed but IBM was initially reported to be paying nearly $60 million for Polar Security, which has been offering agentless technology for cloud data auditing and tracking across cloud apps and organizational networks. No further details on whether Polar Security co-founders Chairman Dov Yoran, CEO Guy Shanny, and Chief Technology Officer Roey Yaacovi will be part of the acquisition have been given. IBM's purchase of Polar Security comes amid the growing number of mergers and acquisitions in the data auditing and tracking space, including the purchases of Zscaler and Cisco of Canonic and Valtix, respectively, in February as well as the Cider Security purchase of Palo Alto Networks in November.