EMC is planning to beef up its RSA security division with the acquisition of Silver Tail Systems, a big data startup whose main product offering is able to detect malicious activity in real-time.

Silver Tail’s software works by monitoring site visitors and analyzing their behavior to work out if they’re genuine site users or up to something else that could cause problems, and counts several large e-commerce and banking sites among its customers.

Yesterday, EMC announced a definite agreement to acquire the big data security startup, but refused to disclose the terms of the deal.

The acquisition is expected to be finalized sometime in the fourth quarter, with the plan being for Silver Tail to operate with EMC’s RSA security division, where it will be used to enhance the capabilities of RSA’s Identity Protection and Verification (IPV) solutions, plus other aspects of the firm’s security offerings.

Art Coviello, RSA Executive Chairman, made the following comments:

“The industry is well beyond the point of providing effective security using static, perimeter point tools that fail to keep up with dynamic cyber attackers.”

“Customers need better intelligence, analytics, and the ability to respond in real time which is a capability that Silver Tail’s products do extraordinarily well to help foil web-based attacks. Silver Tail offers proven anti-fraud solutions that complement RSA’s portfolio of risk-based and adaptive products and services.”

Silver Tail Systems’ web session intelligence is a response to the rapid evolution of online threats and malware that has left organizations of every ilk, including banks, governments and e-commerce sites, vulnerable to attacks and fraud. Their software uses a big data approach to the problem of web security, gathering and analyzing data from site visitors in real time.

Silver Tail Systems claims that its behavioral analysis engine is able to detect anomalies with visitor behavior, fraud, insider threats, IT security risks, business logic abuse and many other kinds of malicious threats. The software gets better over time too – the more it learns about what’s normal and what isn’t normal with the system it’s protecting, the more accurately it can spot malicious threats.

As well as spotting anomalous behavior and flagging it, Silver Tail’s software can also mitigate any risks by applying authentication programs like CAPTCHAS when it deems necessary.