IBM acquires Trusteer to form cybersecurity lab

IBM has acquired security firm Trusteer as part of the formation of a security lab focused on mobile and application security, counter-fraud, and malware detection.

In an announcement Thursday, IBM said it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the company, which specializes in protecting businesses networks, mobile devices, and web applications from cybercriminals.

Trusteer is a privately-held company, formed in 2006, with locations in Boston, Mass., and Tel Aviv, Israel. Seven of the largest 10 U.S. banks and nine of the largest 10 U.K. banks use Trusteer's software to scan for malware to protect against financial fraud. The company says it focuses on detecting problems that traditional security software might miss.

The agreement will add Trusteer's security solutions to IBM's current portfolio. IBM said that by securing Trusteer, the company's fraud protection, advanced persistent threat protection, zero-day vulnerabilities, endpoint security, and threat intelligence services will be strengthened.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"The way organizations protect data is quickly evolving," said Mickey Boodaei, CEO of Trusteer. "As attacks become more sophisticated, traditional approaches to securing enterprise and mobile data are no longer valid. Trusteer has helped hundreds of large banks and organizations around the world defeat thousands of sophisticated attacks using innovative solutions that combine intelligence, cloud, mobile, and desktop technologies."

As part of the announcement, the tech giant said it plans to form a cybersecurity software lab in Israel to create a security team comprising of 200 Trusteer and IBM researchers and developers. The lab will focus on creating solutions for "mobile and application security, advanced threat, malware, counter-fraud, and financial crimes."

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.