IBM Acquires Financial Security Firm Trusteer, Opens Israel Lab

Computing giant IBM today said it would acquire Trusteer, an Israel-based company that makes financial security products. Financial terms aren’t being disclosed, but a report from Israel’s YNet pegs the deal at between $800 million and $1 billion.

Trusteer specializes in creating software that detects fraud in financial transactions, and also delivers security as a service in the cloud. IBM said that seven of the Top 10 banks in the U.S. and nine of the top 10 banks in the United Kingdom use Trusteer’s products to secure customer accounts against fraud. As part of the deal, Big Blue said it will open a security lab in Israel.

IBM has acquired something like a dozen security companies in recent years, including Q1 Labs in 2011, which formed a big part of its new Security Services division. That group manages and monitors security for 4,000 different companies around the world and tracks 15 billion security events every day.

IBM shares fell by more than one percent this morning in premarket trading, to $186.43 a share. The shares have fallen by about two percent this year.