Net security firm Check Point buys security startup Liquid Machine

Bangalore: Internet security firm Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, today announced the acquisition of privately held Liquid Machines, a leader in data security and documentation encryption, for an undisclosed sum.

Check Point is the only vendor to deliver total security for networks, data and endpoints, unified under a single management framework. Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology.  Check Point's award-winning ZoneAlarm solutions protect millions of consumers from hackers, spyware and identity theft.

US-based Liquid Machines, founded in 2001 with several Fortune 100 clients, is a market leader in enterprise rights management.

Liquid Machines' award-winning products prevent the misuse, modification, loss or theft of intellectual property and sensitive information residing in documents. Liquid Machines specialises in data protection and has 12 issued and pending patents for document encryption and content security.

The acquisition, completed today, will broaden Check Point's extensive data security portfolio.

Check Point's data security strategy focuses on securing data throughout its lifecycle; Check Point Full Disk Encryption prevents data loss due to lost or stolen devices, Check Point Virtual Private Networking (VPN) turns any network into a secure and encrypted communication channel, and Check Point's recently announced data loss prevention products prevent sensitive data from being leaked out of the organisation.

The Liquid Machines technology will become part of Check Point's future product suite and will enable secure sharing of documents.

The companies have obtained the required government and regulatory approvals and the deal is expected to close immediately.

Commentng on the acquisition, Gil Shwed, chairman, founder and chief executive officer of Check Point Software Technologies, said ''It is a great extension to our data security portfolio and will strengthen Check Point's security vision. We've found Liquid Machines to provide the best technology for end-to-end data security and we are looking forward to having it as part of Check Point's security architecture.''