Israel Innovation 2.0

Israel-based Aladdin Knowledge Systems announced today that the software security company has agreed to be acquired by an investor group lead by private equity firm Vector Capital, which specializes in the technology industry, for about $160 million.

Aladdin was covered on Israel Innovation 2.0 in August 2008 after its eSafe product was awarded a Checkmark Premium Level Anti-Spam Certification by West Coast Labs, an independent test facility for information security products and services. Together, Aladdin’s products eSafe, HASP and eToken offer software DRM security, online protection and secure network access. Despite quality security software the company’s stocks never reached its potential.

Jasmine Holdco LLC, an affiliate of Vector Capital, had been in talks with Aladdin on and off since last summer before this agreement was finally reached.

Recently, Aladdin Knowledge Systems,
an information security company specializing in authentication, software
DRM and content security, announced that West Coast Labs awarded the Aladdin eSafe with Checkmark Premium Level Anti-Spam Certification.

According to Aladdin’s website, Aladdin eSafe

protects against Web-based malware and zero-day threats through an in-line, wire-speed secure Web gateway featuring powerful anti-spyware, application level controls, and URL filtering. eSafe also controls spam and inspects SMTP and POP3 traffic though a proactive email security gateway.

West Coast Labs, an independent test facility for information security products and services, included in its report some of the highlights of the test including:

Virtual Appliance performed exceptionally well in all aspects of testing during the course of the anti-spam and URL filtering, and so the solution has been awarded the Premium Level Anti-Spam Certification. — Overall, the solution performed extremely well, achieving a 99 percent cumulative [spam] detection rate. — Thanks to the wide range of settings available, the administrator can fine-tune [eSafe] Virtual Appliance to a high degree.

Israel is a hotbed for innovative information security. Other Israeli security companies besides Aladdin include, Check Point, PineApp, Sentrigo and Commtouch, among many others.

Company Facts
Founded in 1985.

Headquarters in Petach Tikva, Israel.

Yanki Margalit, Co-Founder and CEO.

Dany Margalit, Co-Founder & Director.

Tsion Gonen, Vice President eSafe.

Products: HASP, eToken, eSafe.

Website: www.aladdin.com.

About the author: Lisa Damast currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog can be directed to her via email at lisa (at) israelinnovation (dot) com. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and headlines among other topics.