EMC acquires electronic threat detection firm NetWitness

Attack detector will become part of vendor's RSA security division

EMC today announced it has acquired NetWitness, which makes the NextGen visibility monitoring system to detect electronic threats and malware-based attacks. EMC says NetWitness will operate as part of RSA.

The buy of the privately held NetWitness had been anticipated by industry insiders, and the topic of a lot of industry buzz for a while.

Robert Breza, managing director at investment bank RBC Capital Markets, recently remarked with some irony that if RSA had been using the NetWitness monitoring system, RSA might in theory might have been spared the painful experience of the data breach it says occurred in which sensitive information about the RSA SecurID product was stolen by attackers.

RSA has not provided detail on exactly what was stolen in the data breach, but has now confirmed the initial attack started with attackers tricking some RSA employees into opening a malware-laden Excel spreadsheet in an Adobe Flash Player zero-day attack.

The acquisition officially closed on April 1, the company says. It didn't disclose the acquisition price. EMC/RSA issued a statement saying the company expects to combine the NetWitness monitoring and analysis technology with RSA's enVision security information and event monitoring platform, RSA Data Loss Prevention Suite and RSA CyberCrime Intelligence service. Amit Yoran, CEO of NetWitness, said, "Joining RSA is a strategic move that will deliver significant benefits for NetWitness customers, partners and employees."

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Tags emcrsaNetWitnessSecurIDSecurity ID

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