IBM lights on Watchfire
Print storyDevelopment secured
Posted in Security, 6th June 2007 16:13 GMT
Free whitepaper – The shortcut guide to managing certificate lifecycles
IBM has burned an undisclosed sum of money to acquire Watchfire, a Massachusetts-based security firm, the IT omnicorp announced on Wednesday.
Watchfire is a specialist in web application security, focusing on testing and development. IBM says it will integrate the technology into its Rational Software development platform, which as an IBM partner, it was already optimised for. It'll also be flogged in a compliance play alongside IBM Tivoli storage and network management software.
It fits with the current vogue for talking up security as a top priority from the start on the development process, rather than an after-the-fact headache. This latest software security buy follows IBM's $1.3bn swallow of ISS last August.
IBM Rational general manager Danny Sabah provided the canned justification: "Watchfire...will further strengthen our ability to help customers mitigate risk by integrating security, quality testing and compliance testing requirements early in the software development process - before vulnerabilities are exposed."
Founded in 1996, Watchfire had built up about 800 customers across industry. IBM's release is here. ®
Free whitepaper – Vulnerability management buyer's checklist
The business case for application security
Reducing messaging and web security costs with managed services
Vulnerability management buyer's checklist
Extended Validation SSL Certificates
The best practices guide for application security
Feds: Hospital hacker's 'massive' DDoS averted
Buggy 'smart meters' open door to power-grid botnet
Microsoft knew of nasty IE bug a year before attacks
BlockMaster SafeStick hardware-encrypted USB drive