Cisco bags second acquisition in as many days

Security firm Lancope is the latest target in the networking giant's shopping spree

Cisco has made its second acquisition in as many days - this time in the form of security player Lancope.

The US-based privately held firm specialises in network security and provides customers with network behaviour analytics, threat visibility and security intelligence in a bid to help protect them from cybersecurity threats.

Cisco will pay $452.5m (£296.07m) in cash and assumed equity awards, plus additional retention-based incentives for Lancope staff which join Cisco. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of FY16.

Lancope will join the Cisco Security Business Group.

The deal is Cisco's second acquisition in a row as earlier this week, the firm announced plans to buy Internet of Things player ParStream for an undisclosed sum.

Cisco said Lancope's technology will be an important addition to its portfolio.

"As mobility expands and the number of connected devices increases, so do cyber criminals' skills and capacities to successfully breach a company and avoid detection," the firm said.

"Lancope's StealthWatch system identifies suspicious traffic patterns inside the network to detect a wide range of attacks. Through continuous network visibility, specialised threat analysis and protection, Lancope helps customers to monitor, detect, analyse and respond more quickly to modern security threats on enterprise networks.

"Cisco and Lancope will advance Cisco's Security Everywhere strategy of providing advanced threat protection across the full attack continuum - before, during and after an attack."