EMC to buy web intelligence provider Silver Tail Systems

EMC said today it has agreed to buy privately-held start-up Silver Tail Systems, a vendor of real-time web session intelligence and behavioural analysis.

EMC plans to use the purchase to beef up its RSA security division in the rapidly growing Web fraud detection market. The software will “complement” RSA’s anti-fraud solutions that help leading banks and retailers thwart sophisticated cyber attacks.

Silver Tail’s software monitors website visitor activity and detects malicious activity by analysing how websites and web applications interact. That allows the software to understand expected behaviour and identify deviations that indicate fraud or malicious attempts to abuse business logic.

The monetary terms of the deal were not disclosed by EMC or Silver Tail. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

Silver Tail is among a growing class of data analytics technologies use large amounts of behavioural data for insight into real-time defences, according to Scott Crawford, a managing research director for EMA.

“Its acquisition by EMC signals the growing validation of data-driven security tactics, as enterprises — and the vendors that serve them — recognise that effective analytics are the key to understanding the evidence of threats that too often escape detection,” Crawford wrote in a blog post.

Silver Tail’s product portfolio has been used in some of the largest brands in financial services, e-commerce and the federal government, EMC said.

“Silver Tail’s Big Data approach to fighting cybercrime will help accelerate RSA’s strategy to leverage data analytics and adaptive risk-based controls for broader consumer and enterprise security use cases,” EMC said in a statement.