McAfee Buys Preventsys

The purchase of Preventsys is another key acquisition by McAfee as it continues to grow and diversify and outpace the growth of its chief competitor, Symantec. While Symantec struggles to patch its software and pay its bills to the IRS, McAfee buys another good company that will offer it strategic growth, especially among the federal and healthcare sectors.

From Reuters Here:

BOSTON (Reuters) – McAfee Inc. a provider of computer security software and services, said on Tuesday it has acquired closely held Preventsys Inc.

Preventsys, of Carlsbad, California, develops security risk management software, which companies use to identify security problems as they seek to demonstrate and monitor compliance with internal auditing procedures and government regulations.

McAfee Chief Executive George Samenuk last week said at an investor conference that he planned to use some of the company’s $1.1 billion in cash to broaden its portfolio of security products through acquisitions.

I had the privilege of getting to know the Preventsys product while I was at DHS. While it didn’t specifically fit our mission, I was impressed with the product and how it would help the federal government, the medical market, and even large corporations that struggle to maintain compliance with federal regulations.

While many products provide pretty good IT auditing capabilities for vulnerabilities and patches and weaknesses, Preventsys actually integrates mounds and tons of regulatory data into its product. Now, with Preventsys, you can not only tell if your servers are vulnerable to hacker attack, you also can scan it to find out if it measures up to NIST, Sarbanes/Oxley and HIPAA standards. The product features a portal to easily help both administrators and auditors navigate through the myriad world of federal regulations to pin down compliance issues. This tool can save corporations thousands of dollars.

McAfee is confidently assuming the top tier of AV providers. Symantec is choking on its dust.