Watchfire acquires Sanctum

Watchfire announced on Monday that it is acquiring security software maker Sanctum in a move to broaden its monitoring, measuring, managing and security software offerings.

Terms of the deal--which binds Watchfire's online business management software and services with Sanctum's software for firewalls and Web application security--were not disclosed.

"Watchfire offers solutions to address the Internet's most pernicious issues. The addition of Web application security solutions to Watchfire's portfolio, coupled with the expertise (that) Sanctum's employees bring to Watchfire, gives our enterprise and government customers access to the industry's most advanced and comprehensive security, privacy and compliance solutions," Watchfire CEO Peter McKay said in a statement.

The acquisition is expected to close within 30 days.

The deal is expected to help Watchfire with its expansion plans. Late last year, Watchfire struck a partnership with IBM.

Under that partnership, Big Blue used Watchfire's technology to automatically spot identity information threats. IBM, as a result, was able to monitor, manage and mitigate potential privacy breaches, the computer maker and services company said at the time.