Check Point buys NFR Security

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is making its second acquisition in as many months, scooping up NFR Security Inc. for about US$20 million.

Check Point plans to incorporate NFR's intrusion detection and prevention technologies into its own security portfolio of firewall, VPN (virtual private network) and security management products. The resulting product will offer a high level of intelligence, adaptability and manageability, Check Point said.

In addition to that bundled offering, Check Point will also sell a stand-alone intrusion detection and prevention product that will combine NFR's product line with Check Point's InterSpect internal security gateway products.

Check Point specializes in pre-emptive security, offering a unified security architecture that provides protection across an entire network. NFR offers intrusion detection and prevention technologies, protecting against malicious code, backdoors, intrusion attacks and other issues.

NFR, of Rockville, Maryland and has 22 employees. U.S. regulatory authorities have already approved the acquisition, which is expected to close before the end of this year.

Last month, Check Point announced it would buy Pointsec Mobile Technologies AB for $586 million in order to extend its offering to laptops and other remote access devices.

That deal followed a proposed acquisition of Sourcefire earlier this year, which Check Point had to withdraw after some U.S. government agencies, which are Sourcefire customers, protested in apparent concern about the acquisition's national security implications. Check Point is an Israeli company.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.