The all-stock purchase will help nCircle expand its line of IP360 security scanning appliances Software vendor nCircle Network Security has acquired Cambia Security, a provider of risk and compliance management software.Cambia sells a product called Cambia CM, which can be used to audit the configuration of computers on a network and help determine if they are in compliance with company policy or government regulations.Specific terms of the acquisition were not released, but the deal was an all-stock transaction amounting to 15 percent of the value of the privately held nCircle, said Abe Kleinfeld, nCircle’s president and CEO. Twenty of Cambia’s 25 employees will remain with the company, he said. The purchase will let nCircle extend the capabilities of its IP360 appliances, which scan devices for security risks and bugs, so they can detect things like whether a PC’s firewall is properly configured or using secure passwords, he said.“Security and compliance are merging in many ways,” he said. “A lot of compliance has to do with security, and a lot of security has to do with compliance.”Cambia’s product, like nCircle’s, does not need to install any “agent” software on the computer being scanned, Kleinfeld said. Full integration between the two products will take a year and a half, Kleinfeld said, but nCircle will also continue to sell Cambia’s software as a stand-alone appliance, called the nCircle Configuration Compliance Manager. Technology Industry