Today (Thursday), Cisco announced that it will acquire Israeli cyber-security company Portshift, which developed a Cloud-Native security platform that protects the throughout an application’s lifecycle. The official figures of the deal have yet to be released, although Cisco did note that the transaction will be completed by H1 2021.
"Portshift will be joining Cisco’s emerging technologies and incubation team”
Portshift’s system integrates with an organization’s CI/CD tool and pulls from there the necessary data to identify a deployed app’s dependencies and its communication with various components. Once the applications are deployed, Portshift provides a unique overview of every application component and they’re whole network of communication. By previously identifying the component during the CI/CD phase, it is then possible to dictate and enforce a communication regulatory process based on the business structure of the application, rather than being dependent on a network’s limitations.
The Israeli company’s platform moves from the network to the application, meaning instead of always dealing with the “pipes” that are based on port addresses, a secure and personalized IP for each unique application, with the application’s technology and details creating a unique identity for every application-based component.
Portshift was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Ran Ilani and Zohar Kaufman. Portshift was originally established as part of Team8’s cyber-excellence foundry, which was also the leading investor in the startup that came out of stealth mode with $5.3 million in Seed funding.
Team8 Managing Partner Yuval Shachar, who also sits on Portshift’s board said that “we are proud of Ran and Zohar and the rest of Portshift’s excellent team on their outstanding achievement only two years after founding the company, and even more excited about the impact of the technology on the global cyber industry.”
Cisco’s Senior Vice President and General Manager IoT Liz Centoni added regarding the acquisition that “Portshift will be joining Cisco’s Emerging Technologies & Incubation team. We are extremely excited to welcome Portshift to the Cisco ecosystem.”