CyberArk Software said Thursday it has acquired Conjur for $42 million in cash, a tie-up that unites two cybersecurity firms with offices in the Boston area.
CyberArk (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYBR]]), which is based in Israel and has U.S. headquarters in Newton, MA, makes software to help banks and other businesses manage user privileges, sensitive data, and applications security, with a focus on protecting against insider threats. Conjur, based in Newton, provides software aimed at helping businesses securely adopt cloud-based software and IT infrastructure. Its software automates tasks like managing machine identities, authorizing privileged access, and managing connections between machines.
In a news release announcing the deal, CyberArk emphasized Conjur’s technology for securing DevOps—the tools and services for software development and IT operations.
The move fits into a few trends in IT security. The volume of applications and other software programs is exploding, and the process of developing and deploying software is getting faster. But all this activity also creates more vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit. By scooping up Conjur, CyberArk says it will be able to help its customers develop and deploy software more quickly and efficiently—but also do so securely. (A related deal is CA Technologies’ $614 million acquisition of Veracode earlier this year.)
Founded in 1999, CyberArk raised $86 million in an initial public offering in 2014. Since then, it has made several acquisitions, including Israel-based Cybertinel for an undisclosed price; Waltham, MA-based Viewfinity for $30.5 million; and Conjur.
Conjur was founded in 2011 and previously raised at least $2.6 million from investors, according to SEC filings. The company’s investors include Avalon Ventures and tech entrepreneur Andy Palmer.
