Check Point Software Technologies today announced its latest move to expand its cloud application security platform, CloudGuard, with the acquisition of a startup that brings tools in areas such as infrastructure-as-code scanning and hard-coded secrets detection.

Check Point said it has acquired Spectral, which is based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and offers a number of “developer-first” security tools. The acquisition price for the startup was $60 million, Check Point told VentureBeat.

The acquisition is the latest instance of consolidation in the market for cloud-native application security solutions. It’s become a fast-growing area, amid the shift to cloud-native development using containers and microservices and concerns about the security of software supply chains. Along with high-profile incidents such as the SolarWinds breach, attacks involving software supply chains surged by more than 300% in 2021, Aqua Security reported.

A number of vendors in the market have been acquiring startups to build out their platforms with new capabilities, with recent examples including Orca Security’s acquisition of RapidSec in January and Aqua Security’s acquisition of Argon in December.

Check Point, one of the biggest players in the space, has also been among the biggest consolidators. Spectral becomes the company’s fifth acquisition in cloud security — following Dome9 (2018), ForceNock (2019), Protego (2019), and Avanan (2021).

‘Widest range’ of use cases

Spectral had raised $6.2 million in funding since its founding in 2020, and brings 20 employees, Check Point told VentureBeat. Dotan Nahum, cofounder and CEO of Spectral, will lead the lead Spectral unit’s operations within the Check Point CloudGuard team, the company said.

Check Point plans to integrate Spectral’s tools into its Infinity security solution within the CloudGuard platform. Along with infrastructure-as-code scanning and detection of hardcoded secrets, Spectral also brings tools for code-tampering prevention, source controls and CI/CD security, and source code leakage detection.

The acquisition Will ultimately enable CloudGuard to “provide the widest range of cloud application security use cases,” Check Point said in a news release.

Spectral has had more than 300 organizations as customers, Check Point said. The startup’s tools also deploy quickly — within five minutes — and deliver “comprehensive and accurate results within seconds,” according to Check Point.