Amazon Web Services (AWS), has acquired a security software company with close ties to U.S. National Security Agency.
Sqrrl Data, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company, announced its acquisition by AWS in a notice posted to its Web site this week.
“We are thrilled to announce that Sqrl was acquired by Amazon. In a note, Mark Terenzoni, CEO of Sqrl, stated that we will be joining Amazon Web Services and looking forward to working together on customer offerings in the future.
Sqrl was born from Accumulo, a 2008 database project by the NSA. It has since been open-sourced under the Apache Foundation. Sqrl was founded in 2012 by several original contributors to the NSA. Its flagship “Threat Hunting Platform”, which is built on Accumulo technology, was launched in 2012.
According to Sqrl, the company’s offering “unites machine learning algorithms, link analysis, and multi-petabyte scaling capabilities into one integrated solution.”
Although the terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, industry watchers estimate that it is worth more than $40 million.
Sqrrl, with its NSA ties gives AWS a boost in its government-centric cloud offerings. AWS plans to open its second GovCloud area sometime this year. It will be located on the East Coast. AWS recently opened a Secret Region in November for U.S intelligence community members and their partners in government.
Sqrrl’s machine-learning-enabled security technology was also acquired by AWS. This acquisition could be a complement to GuardDuty which is AWS’ cloud security monitoring solution that uses machine learning. AWS showcased GuardDuty at this year’s re:Invent conference in November 2017.
