McAfee buys ScanAlert

Under terms of the acqusition, McAfee will pay about $51 million in cash up front for ScanAlert, a company that audits and certifies e-commerce Web sites as safe from hackers. There is an earn-out of up to $24 million if certain performance targets are met, McAfee said in a statement.

ScanAlert charges an annual fee for daily vulnerability scans and security checks on e-commerce Web sites and slaps a "hacker safe" logo (they call it a trustmark) on sites that pass inspection. ScanAlert's projected 2007 bookings are in the range of $15 million to $20 million.

The company says the hacker safe logo can be seen on more than 80,000 Web sites. Customers include Visa International, Yahoo, A&E Television Networks, HP, Johnson & Johnson and Sony.

McAfee plans to integrate ScanAlert's security certification service into its consumer-facing SiteAdvisor Web rating system. When the integration is completed, sites certified by the "Hacker Safe" technology will be visible through SiteAdvisor.