Email and data security company Mimecast announced it has acquired security software developer Solebit for approximately US$88million net of cash acquired.

Solebit's technology is engineered to provide a fast, accurate and computationally efficient approach for the identification and isolation of zero-day malware and unknown threats in data files as well as links to external resources.

Further improving Mimecast's cyber resilience platform architecture, Solebit provides threat protection to help customers face today's broad threat landscape with evasion-aware, signature-less technology.

According to research Mimecast conducted with Vanson Bourne, more than 80% of global organisations have seen both targeted and untargeted phishing attacks increase or stay the same over the last year.

Additionally, cybercriminals are constantly adapting their attack methods, looking for new ways to bypass security solutions that look for specific behaviours or signature matches.

Solebit has developed a differentiated approach that is engineered to preclude the need for signatures and sandboxes.

It is designed to help customers find advanced threats by recognising when there is a malicious code embedded within active content and data files.

Solebit is built to scan content dynamically as it enters an organisation's systems to determine whether it is infected with malware in a transient way, avoiding the need for extra hardware and processing time typically required to isolate and detonate content presumed ‘risky.'

Solebit currently provides Mimecast and its customers' insight into what was detected and why it was categorised as a threat.

“Security methods like signature-based antivirus and sandbox detonation are too limited when it comes to today's most advanced threats,” says Mimecast chief executive officer Peter Bauer.

“It's time for a more capable, efficient and durable approach.

“We're excited to welcome Solebit into the Mimecast family, as it helps us to offer customers a new approach that fundamentally improves their cybersecurity and resilience efficacy in the most efficient way on the market.

Solebit's advanced threat detection capabilities are integrated into Mimecast Targeted Threat Protection products.

Combined with the recent acquisition of Ataata in the security awareness and training space, and the recently previewed early adopter web security program, Solebit brings another set of microservices to the Mime|OS platform that all of Mimecast's unified services are built upon.