Flexera Software, (Illinois, USA) a leading provider of next-generation software licensing, compliance, security and installation solutions for application producers and enterprises, have announced the acquisition of Secunia (Copenhagen, Denmark), a leading provider of Software Vulnerability Management solutions that protect organizations against cybersecurity risks.

“As cybersecurity threats continue to grow, leading companies will not only proactively manage these threats but will also integrate Software Vulnerability Management into core software asset management processes,” said Mark Bishof, Flexera Software’s Chief Executive Officer. “Secunia’s products deliver the Software Vulnerability Management capabilities enterprises urgently need today while complementing our existing market-leading solutions for Software License Optimization and Application Readiness.”

Cybersecurity and Software Vulnerability Management

Cybercriminals routinely use vulnerabilities in software as gateways to exploit corporate networks, using techniques like commercialized underground “exploit toolkits” to infect machines and perform malicious activities. A typical, documented cybersecurity breach costs organizations between $2.5 million to $5 million. However, massive breaches, such as the highly publicized Target, JPMorgan, Home Depot, Sony, and Best Buy cybercrimes, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars – not to mention damage to reputation and brand. Secunia products help IT security and operations teams proactively identify, assess and remediate software vulnerabilities. Secunia products include:

• Vulnerability Intelligence Manager, which gives IT security teams verified, accurate and comprehensive vulnerability intelligence from Secunia Research, along with workflow management, alerts and reporting
• Corporate Software Inspector, which provides IT operations teams multi-platform assessment of software vulnerabilities and cost-effective patch creation and deployment to reduce enterprise software security risks

Speed is of the essence during a cyberattack to minimize damage. Secunia products stand alone in their ability to deliver accurate, verified intelligence on known vulnerabilities, including detailed information to support mitigation efforts. They help assess the potential impact of software vulnerabilities based on their criticality and dependencies of the affected business applications, and then quickly resolve the issue through the deployment and verification of the appropriate security patches.

“Being a part of Flexera Software represents the next stage of growth for Secunia’s employees, customers and partners,” said Peter Colsted, Secunia’s Chief Executive Officer. “The synergies from this acquisition will enable enterprises to more proactively address cybersecurity threats as a core part of their processes for managing application usage.”

Software License Optimization & Software Vulnerability Management Synergies

Secunia’s Software Vulnerability Management solutions are highly synergistic with Flexera Software’s Software License Optimization solution, FlexNet Manager Suite, and underscore the critical relationship between Software Asset Management (SAM) and cybersecurity. Both disciplines require at their foundation the accurate and continual discovery and inventory of software assets within an organization’s environment. Today IT asset management and security teams (and projects) are usually siloed within organizations, increasing the likelihood that security threats will slip through the gap. For instance, discovery and inventory of software assets are critical to both asset management and security teams – but are currently undertaken separately in most organizations,

Flexera Software is changing the game by connecting the strategic dots between Software Asset Management and cybersecurity. And by harnessing the synergies between SAM and Software Vulnerability Management, Software License Optimization takes on even greater critical importance in centralizing core software asset management functions while minimizing software spend, software license non-compliance, and cybersecurity risk. Organizations will be able to leverage asset management insights combined with vulnerability data to rapidly address the most relevant cybersecurity threats. Other IT disciplines will all immediately benefit from the success and maturity of Software License Optimization and IT asset management processes that are developed and applied for cybersecurity.

Application Readiness & Software Vulnerability Management Synergies

Secunia’s Software Vulnerability Management solutions are also synergistic with Flexera Software’s Software Application Readiness solution, AdminStudio Suite, underscoring IT Operations teams’ need to understand security risks when rationalizing and managing the application portfolio, and to safely, securely and reliably deploy patches without damaging underlying systems. Application Readiness and Software Vulnerability Management business processes can be completely integrated with vulnerability assessment. These processes are integral to application inventory, rationalization and compatibility processes, as well as state-of-the-art application packaging being used to prepare security patches for rapid, reliable deployment.

Source: Flexera Software