Networking technology giant Cisco has announced that it’s acquiring cloud-based security company OpenDNS in a deal worth $635 million.
Founded out of San Francisco in 2005, OpenDNS provides a cross-platform online threat-protection service that Cisco says it will use to boost its own security, adding “broad visibility and threat intelligence from the OpenDNS cloud delivered platform.”
While most security companies you’ll be familiar with require an individual or company to install software on a local piece of hardware, such as a computer, OpenDNS routes customers’ Internet connections through its own servers and blocks malicious activity at its end. It’s basically a cloud-based security service that’s easy to deploy at scale, and its high profile is indicative of the increased need for security with the burgeoning Internet of Things expected to see 50 billion devices connect to the Internet by 2020.