Cisco agreed to acquire OpenDNS, a privately held security company based in San Francisco, for approximately $635 million in cash and assumed equity awards.
OpenDNS provides a secure DNS offering with advanced threat protection for “any device, across any port, protocol or app.” Its predictive security model is designed to anticipate malicious activity, including botnets and phishing. Its DNSCrypt technology converts regular DNS traffic into encrypted DNS traffic to prevent eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks. The service is hosted in peering data centers around the world.
Cisco said the acquisition will boost its Security Everywhere approach by adding broad visibility and threat intelligence from the OpenDNS cloud delivered platform.
“As more people, processes, data and things become connected, opportunities for security breaches and malicious threats grow exponentially when away from secure enterprise networks,” said Hilton Romanski, Cisco chief technology and strategy officer. “OpenDNS has a strong team with deep security expertise and key technology that complements Cisco’s security vision. Together, we will help customers protect their extended network wherever the user is and regardless of the device.”
- OpenDNS was founded in 2006 by David Ulevitch. Investors included Sutter Hill Ventures, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Partners.
