Microsoft to acquire data protection firm Secure Islands

The acquisition will help Microsoft level up its Azure Rights Management Service, which lets companies protect files individually and in bulk with tools that ensure they aren't opened or modified by people who are unauthorized to do so. Secure Islands's services include data classification technology that automatically detects the creation of new files from a variety of sources and then applies a protection policy to it.  

In addition, the Israeli company already has experience with Microsoft's on-premises-based Active Directory Rights Management Service through its consulting business, which would seem to make it a natural fit for working with Microsoft's cloud-based rights management service. 

Secure Islands will continue selling its products to new customers and providing services to its existing customers while the acquisition makes its way through regulatory approvals. Microsoft said in a statement that Secure Islands will continue to provide support to existing customers going forward, though didn't provide specifics about what that would look like. 

Monday's announcement is the second security-focused acquisition Microsoft has made recently. The company acquired Silicon Valley-based Adallom in September, which was a deal focused on enhancing Microsoft's Advanced Threat Analytics service. Both the threat analytics and rights management services are part of Microsoft's push to provide companies with tools that can be used to better secure their information as it drifts farther afield from a business's premises with increased adoption of mobile devices and cloud computing. 

This is also Microsoft's second acquisition in two weeks, and fifth acquisition of an Israeli startup this year. Last week, the Redmond, Washington-based tech titan announced that it had made a deal with Mobile Data Labs, the maker of an app that's used to track mobile workers' mileage.