Cisco Acquires Cybersecurity Company Sourcefire For $2.7B

Cisco has just announced the acquisition of Sourcefire, a company that creates cybersecurity products to protect companies from attacks. The purchase price is $2.7 billion, or $76 per share in cash plus retention-based incentives.

Founded in 2001, Maryland-based Sourcefire offers a number of security products that ensure threat detection and network protection from threats including prevention systems, firewalls, and advanced malware protection. Large- to mid-size organizations and government agencies use Sourcefire to protect their dynamic networks, endpoints, mobile devices and virtual environments.

As Cisco explains, this acquisition “adds a team with deep security DNA to Cisco and will accelerate delivery of Cisco’s security strategy of defending, discovering, and remediating advanced threats.” At the end of 2012, Sourcefire, which went public in 2007, reported revenue of $223.1 million, an increase of 35 percent year-over-year.

Upon completion of the transaction Sourcefire employees will join the Cisco Security Group.

Cisco has been aggressively building its portfolio of security technologies. Earlier this year, the company acquired Czech network security startup, Cognitive Security. Last year Cisco acquired data center security company Virtuata. Cybersecurity is certainly an area that more and more large companies are paying attention to, and clearly Cisco wants to be the go-to destination for protection from any threats.