Akamai is beefing up its defenses against Internet attackers.
The Cambridge, MA-based network company, best known for handling about a third of the Web’s traffic globally, is paying $370 million to acquire Prolexic, a Web security company.
Prolexic sells security software that protects data centers and big-business Internet applications from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Adding those products to Akamai’s current DDoS security lineup gives the company more chances to sell security software to its customers, who can typically lose lots of money when a DDoS attack brings down their website or network.
Such attacks are not a new tactic in the world of online security, but they can still be a pressing problem.
In Akamai’s latest “State of the Internet” report on global Web traffic trends, the company’s customers reported a 54 percent quarter-over-quarter jump in DDoS attacks, mostly against enterprise or commercial targets in the Americas.
At the time, Akamai noted that the increase could be connected to an increase in political unrest around the world, including the civil war in Syria. But the company also said that, if the trend continues at a similar pace, “the impact on the Internet as a whole will become a much bigger concern than it is now.”
Privately-held Prolexic is based in Hollywood, FL. The venture-backed company, founded in 2003, most recently raised a $30 million Series C investment round in July.
