Novell acquires Linux security company

Novell has acquired Immunix, a small company that sells software designed to improve the security of programs running on Linux servers, Novell said Tuesday.

The Waltham, Mass.-based company will sell Immunix's products as Novell AppArmor, Chief Executive Jack Messman said in a statement. The product is designed to protect Linux and higher-level applications from external or internal attacks and viruses.

Novell declined to disclose the purchase price.

Immunix, based in Portland, Ore., was founded in 1998. It has somewhat fewer than 20 employees, chiefly programmers who focus on security work, said Novell spokesman Bruce Lowry. One of those employees is co-founder Crispin Cowan, who has been involved in Linux kernel security projects.

AppArmor works on Linux products using the 2.6 kernel, but Novell will support it only on its Suse Linux Enterprise Server product, Lowry said.