Global email security firm Mimecast acquires Israel's Segasec

Based on machine learning technology, Segasec's solution runs targeted scans to uncover upcoming and live attacks, and also offers capabilities to takedown active attacks.

JANUARY 6, 2020 17:36

Employees of Tel Aviv start-up Segasec (photo credit: PR) — Employees of Tel Aviv start-up Segasec

(photo credit: PR)

Nasdaq-listed email security firm Mimecast has acquired Tel Aviv cybersecurity start-up Segasec, the companies announced on Monday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2017 by Israeli entrepreneurs Elad Schulman and Gad Akuka, Segasec specializes in preventing hackers from exploiting company brands and online assets through fake websites and domains, aiming to fraudulently harvest credentials from customers, employees and organizations.

London-based Mimecast, which has about 1,500 employees at 12 offices around the world, said the acquisition would extend its email and Web security solutions to block potentially malicious domains and defend against schemes that target money and data.

Based on machine-learning technology, Segasec’s solution runs targeted scans to uncover upcoming and live attacks. It also offers capabilities to take down active attacks and limit the use of stolen data.

“Every brand is vulnerable to attacks that abuse and threaten the trust that employees, customers, partners and third-party vendors have placed in them,” Mimecast CEO Peter Bauer said. “Segasec will allow our customers to take a proactive approach to identifying, and even potentially preventing, attacks that imitate their brands using domains they don’t own, while also offering the visibility required to understand how their brands are being misused for malicious intent.”

The acquisition of Segasec follows Mimecast’s November 2019 purchase of DMARC Analyzer, which aims to simplify the process of protecting against abuse of domains owned by customers.

“In today’s increasingly digital economy, we rely so heavily on websites and email to interact with businesses in both our professional and personal lives,” said Schulman, who serves as Segasec CEO. “As such, brand exploitation has been on the rise, as cyber criminals co-opt the brands we depend on and violate our trust.

“The powerful combination of Mimecast and Segasec will help people better protect their brands, customers and other external stakeholders, as well as their own employees.”