paypal/CyActive

It’s Official: PayPal Confirms CyActive Acquisition

April 10, 2015         By: Michael Cheng

After months of preparation, PayPal announced that it has finalized its acquisition of Israel-based CyActive.

Experts say the agreed value was worth around $60 million.

“Located in one of the world’s top cybersecurity hubs, this new security center will allow us to tap into the country’s cutting-edge technology and top cybersecurity talent,” PayPal chief technology officer James Barrese wrote in a blog on the company’s website.

The deal marks PayPal’s second acquisition in the region. In 2008, it acquired FraudSciences, a financial fraud monitoring business, for $169 million. Through the deal, the company established the Fraud and Risk Detection Center in Electra Tower, Tel Aviv, where it currently operates several programs designed to combat high-risk fraud and financial security.

PayPal is set to open a second development center in Beersheba, focusing on malware location and identification technology.

“With CyActive, we’ll have even more ways to proactively predict and prevent security threats from ever affecting our customers. Our goal is to extend our global security leadership, and bolster our efforts in predictive threat detection and prevention,” said Barrese.

CyActive was founded by CEO Liran Tancman and CTO Shlomi Boutnaru.

The startup specializes in predictive cyber threat technology using biology-inspired algorithms to stay one step ahead of digital attacks.

“The current cyber security paradigm is a reactive cycle: if and when a threat is exposed, it is analyzed and a counter-solution is designed,” CyActive explained. “Response times vary from weeks to years. Even if a solution is made available, attackers can easily modify the original code, evade the updated security measures, and once again a new threat is born.”

In the early days, the company received funding from German tech giant Siemens, top-level venture capital fund Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), and other unnamed foreign investors.