Security Vendor BeyondTrust Acquires Blackbird Group

In a reflection of the ever-increasing demand for granularity in the security space, security vendor BeyondTrust today announced the acquisition of Blackbird Group. Read on for details on the deal, which Beyond Trust promises will further strengthen the compliance-management and security features of its Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Active Directory (AD) integration solutions.

BeyondTrust already develops a range of products designed to make Microsoft Active Directory deployments easier and more robust. But as CEO John Mutch said, “Understanding where people have access and what they are doing with that access is a critical component to demonstrating compliance and tightening internal security controls” in AD environments.

With that requirement in mind, the company acquired Blackbird Group for an undisclosed amount. The move will allow BeyondTrust to incorporate new compliance features into its AD products and enhance the security functionality it offers with them.

Security in Real Time

It remains to be seen precisely how BeyondTrust will leverage Blackbird technology. The buzzword at the center of this deal, however, is “real-time.” According to BeyondTrust, it will now be able to integrate real-time auditing features into its PowerBroker platform. Through this new functionality, the company promises better performance in the following key areas:

BeyondTrust’s focus on improving AD management via real-time auditing and compliance technology underlines the demand for value-added products that provide functionality well beyond the basic AD tools offered by Microsoft. In an age when AD has become so ubiquitous–not to mention cross-platform, providing the infrastructure for managing not only Windows machines but also Mac OS X and Unix computers that were not always designed with AD integration in mind–the channel remains ripe for solutions that extend AD and make it useful for modern enterprise deployments.