Cloudera, which specializes in enterprise analytic data management powered by Apache Hadoop, has acquired Gazzang, a start-up working on big data security. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Cloudera said the addition enables it to deliver enterprise-grade data encryption and key management for securing and processing sensitive and legally protected data within the Hadoop ecosystem, thus fulfilling a requirement in myriad compliance regulations like HIPAA-HITECH, PCI-DSS, FERPA and the EU Data Protection Directive.
Cloudera now offers encryption for all data-at-rest stored inside the Hadoop cluster – using an approach that is transparent to applications using the data, thereby minimizing the costs associated with enabling encryption. The Gazzang team will now become the basis of a new Cloudera Center for Security Excellence whose focus includes:
- Data and cluster security technologies – including “follow the data” authorization and encryption policies riding on Cloudera’s data lineage tracking capabilities.
- Security testing and certification – including continuous vulnerability assessment, performance optimization, and developing regulatory compliance playbooks.
- Security ecosystem partner enablement – developing security integration APIs and certifying partner products.
“Data security is no longer a checkbox for IT organizations or operations departments, it has become a top business priority,” said Tom Reilly, chief executive officer, Cloudera. “At the same time compliance requirements for protecting data continue to expand in scope where data access comes under scrutiny. We’re entering a whole new era with the rise of the Industrial Internet and the Internet of Things where there is vastly more data being streamed from billions of devices. Centralizing and accessing that net-new data to unlock its value is therefore a challenge when you consider the security requirements. That’s what we’re solving now.”
- Gazzang was headquartered in Austin, Texas and backed by Austin Ventures and Silver Creek Ventures.
- In March 2014, Cloudera confirmed that its latest funding round, which included a strategic investment from Intel, amounted to $900 million. This financing round includes the previously-announced $160 million of funding from T. Rowe Price and three other top-tier public market investors, Google Ventures, and an affiliate of MSD Capital, L.P., the private investment arm of Michael Dell and his family, and a significant equity investment by Intel that gives them an 18% share of Cloudera.
Cloudera offers enterprise analytic data management software powered by Apache Hadoop, which is the underlying technology behind a growing number of Big Data projects.
