Cisco to buy security company OpenDNS for $635 million

In a move to boost its security business, Cisco Systems Inc. will acquire privately held net security company OpenDNS for $635 million.

OpenDNS provides a cross-platform online threat-protection service by using predictive intelligence to block malware, botnets and phishing threats that antivirus and firewalls miss. It also supports a network of domain name servers to help route Web traffic in competition with those provided by Internet service providers. The San Francisco-based company currently has 65 million users and operates from 25 data centers.

"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's chief technology and strategy officer.

"We're not going anywhere and OpenDNS as you know it will continue to work as it does today," David Ulevitch, founder and CEO of OpenDNS, said.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, when the OpenDNS team will join the Cisco Security Business Group.

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