UK data security company Mimecast Ltd. (Nasdaq: MIME) today announced that it has acquired Israeli cybersecurity company Solebit for $88 million in cash. Solebit provides a fast, accurate and computationally efficient approach for the identification and isolation of zero-day malware and unknown threats in data files as well as links to external resources. Mimecast says that the acquired cybersecurity technology will enhance its cyber resilience platform architecture, and that Solebit provides powerful threat protection to help customers face today’s broad threat landscape with evasion-aware, signature-less technology. Based in Herzliya, Solebit was founded in 2014 by CEO Boris Vaynberg, CTO Meni Farjon, and VP product Yossi Sara, entrepreneurs with years of experience in defensive and offensive cyber-security approaches and all graduates of elite technology units in the Israel Defense Forces. Solebit closed an $11 million Series A financing round led by ClearSky Security and with the participation of MassMutual Ventures and Glilot Capital Partners. Solebit has raised $13 million to date. Solebit has developed a differentiated approach that is engineered to preclude the need for signatures and sandboxes. It is designed to help customers find advanced threats by recognizing when there is malicious code embedded within active content and data files. Solebit is built to scan content as it enters an organization’s systems to determine whether it is infected with malware in a transient way, avoiding the need for extra hardware and processing time typically required to isolate and detonate content presumed ‘risky.’ Solebit currently provides Mimecast and its customers insight into what was detected and why it was categorized as a threat. Mimecast CEO Peter Bauer said, “Security methods like signature-based antivirus and sandbox detonation are too limited when it comes to today’s most advanced threats. It’s time for a more capable, efficient and durable approach. We’re excited to welcome Solebit into the Mimecast family, as it helps us to offer customers a new approach that fundamentally improves their cybersecurity and resilience efficacy in the most efficient way on the market.” With 35 employees, the Herzliya based company will become Mimecast's Israel deveopment center. Solebit’s advanced threat detection capabilities are already integrated into Mimecast Targeted Threat Protection products. Combined with the recent acquisition of Ataata in the security awareness and training space, and the recently previewed early adopter web security program, Solebit brings another important set of microservices to the Mime|OS platform that all of Mimecast’s unified services are built upon. Advs Itay Frishman, Miri Shalit, Shir Stott and Danna Rotstein from the Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal & Co. law firm, represented Solbit in the sale. Mimecast was represented by law firms Latham Watkins and Hirsch Falk. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 31, 2018 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018
UK data security company Mimecast has bought Israeli cybsersecurity firm Solebit for $88m. The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions by US tech firms that are looking to expand their presence across Europe. Solebit, founded in 2014, helps detect threats in advance by checking content as it enters an organisation’s system and recognising when it carries a malicious code. It then tells the company what created a threat and why. Solebit will now become Mimecast’s Israeli development centre. Its threat detection software is already integrated into Mimecast’s Targeted Threat Protection products. Mimecast recently bought security training and awareness operation Ataata.