Oracle buys database firewall provider

Oracle said Thursday that it has bought database firewall vendor Secerno in a move designed to help customers better secure their databases.

Geared for both Oracle and non-Oracle databases, Secerno's DataWall firewall product analyzes how databases are accessed to allow database administrators to set up policies to control that access. Using active monitoring, the firewall can detect and block any suspicious attempts to hit the database, according to Secerno. The company also offers auditing features to help businesses make sure they're in compliance with regulatory standards.

With its focus on firewall security, Secerno has competed in the marketplace with such vendors as Imperva and Guardium, which was acquired in December by IBM. On its end, Oracle sees the acquisition as a way to combine its own database security products with Secerno's DataWall to help customers make sure their data is private and protected.

"The Secerno acquisition is in direct response to increasing customer challenges around mitigating database security risk," Andrew Mendelsohn, senior vice president of Oracle Database Server Technologies, said in a statement. "Secerno's database firewall product acts as a first line of defense against external threats and unauthorized internal access with a protective perimeter around Oracle and non-Oracle databases."

Financial terms were not revealed, but the deal is expected to close before the end of June.