CEO Weekends: Microsoft Acquires Aorato to Secure its Enterprise Customers in the Cloud

Microsoft has acquired Aorato, an enterprise security firm based in Tel Aviv Isreal to protect its entreprise customers against threats in the cloud.

Announcing the development yesterday, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Cloud and Enterprise Marketing, Takeshi Numoto  said: ” With Aorato we will accelerate our ability to give customers powerful identity and access solutions that span on-premises and the cloud, which is central to our overall hybrid cloud strategy.”

Aorato technology uses machine learning to detect suspicious activity on any company’s network by detecing anomalies or suspicious behavior in any system.

Aorato’s other powerful tool is the Organizational Security Graph, which is a real-time updated view of all of the people and machines accessing an organization’s critical business applications and systems to help enterprise customers better detect movements and protect their data. Aorato’s technology will complement Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory, the firm’s cloud-based identity and access management solution.

“We are excited about the technology that Aorato has built and, especially, the people joining the Microsoft team through this acquisition. In the mobile first, cloud first era, Microsoft is committed to moving nimbly and aggressively to provide customers with solutions to their top challenges,” concluded Numoto.

Sources close to the deal claim the acquisition was an estimated $200 million.

After its Nokia acquisition, Microsoft began pushing to be an entreprise cloud services leader as firms turn to Internet of Things.