McAfee buys whitelisting technology pioneer Solidcore

Published- May 20, 2009
By Anonymous

NewYork - Anti-virus software and intrusion prevention solutions provider McAfee Inc. has agreed to buy Solidcore Systems Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of dynamic whitelisting technology for $33 million in cash up-front and an additional $14 million if certain sales targets are met.


The deal, expected to be finalized by the end of June, will enable McAfee to offer whitelisting technology to a broader range of embedded devices, including ATMs, point of sale (POS) systems, multifunction printers, mobiles and other embedded devices, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.

Whitelisting technology ensures that only pre-authorized software and code (i.e. known safe applications) can run on devices. This approach is an alternative to blacklisting or looking for either the signature or behavior associated with known bad applications, used widely in anti-virus scanners, intrusion prevention tools etc.

According to a McAfee official, whitelisting technology assumes importance especially at a time when the security of control systems at utilities that rely on SCADA technology has become a topic of concern over recent months, with anonymous Federal agents alleging that overseas intelligence agencies have hacked into the US national grid.

"The Solidcore acquisition will allows McAfee to offer products designed to mitigate against these types of attack, as well as arguably more pressing concerns about malware on retail sales terminals," the official said, adding that the acquisition will also allow McAfee to beef up its product portfolio in virtualization security, using Solidcore's technology for locking down virtual environments.

McAfee said it plans to integrate Solidcore's dynamic whitelisting and compliance enforcement technology with its existing compliance mapping and policy audit tools.

"Solidcore's industry-leading compliance and protection solutions will extend the current McAfee security portfolio beyond signature-based anti-malware with the addition of dynamic whitelisting and application trust technology," said Dave DeWalt, president and CEO, McAfee.

"Combined with leading McAfee anti-virus, anti-spyware, host intrusion prevention, policy auditing and firewall technologies, we will help customers more easily mitigate the risks associated with vulnerable or malicious applications downloaded by employees. Through this acquisition, we believe McAfee can expand its reach into new markets, secure new platforms and strengthen its hold as the leader in the $6 billion endpoint security market," DeWalt said.

According to Anne Bonaparte, president and CEO, Solidcore, the integration of Solidcore with McAfee "will provide customers with the highest level of system integrity and security across their physical and virtual environments, and allow customers to more quickly and easily meet the today's demanding compliance requirements."

"Today's complex threat landscape and evolving compliance standards require customers to go beyond a reactive, 'check-the-box' model for security and deploy preventive security that incorporates dynamic whitelisting," she said.

Solidcore's customers span across 40 countries, comprising over 100 financial institutions and more than 15000 retail store.

Good for mcafee...