Cisco agrees to acquire cloud security firm for $293M

In a move intended to bolster its end-to-end cloud security portfolio, Cisco this week agreed to acquire Massachusetts-based security startup CloudLock for $293 million.
CloudLock uses an API-based approach to provide cloud access security broker tech geared toward enterprise-grade security and analytics related to cloud services. Customers get the ability to monitor user behavior and data that has been migrated to external cloud servers like those operated by Amazon Web Services, for instance.
“As companies are migrating to the cloud, they need a technology partner that can accelerate that transition and deliver critical security capabilities for all their users, apps and data in a seamless way,” said Rob Salvagno, VP of Cisco Corporate Development. “CloudLock brings a unique cloud-native, platform and API-based approach to cloud security which allows them to build powerful security solutions that are easy to deploy and simple to manage.”
The team from CloudLock will be brought into the Cisco fold under David Goeckeler, SVP and GM of Cisco’s Networking and Security Business Group. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017. CloudLock works with SalesForce, Google Drive and other cloud-based applications.
“CloudLock rose to leadership in the cloud security sector with a pure play approach of being cloud-native while leveraging other cloud platform APIs in a collaborative fashion,” Luke Burns, a general partner at Ascent Venture Partners, told Tech Crunch. Ascent was an early investor in CloudLock. “They were a trailblazer of this approach while the competition often focused their efforts on extending legacy methods.”
CloudLock CEO Gil Zimmerman previously worked at EMC and Sun Microsystems. The company was originally called Aprigo, but changed its name in 2011.