Tech giant Microsoft is expanding its investments in the security technology market following the acquisition of Secure Islands for an undisclosed amount. Secure Islands is the third Israeli security firm that Microsoft acquired this year alone.

Although the terms of the acquisition were not revealed, speculations are rife that the deal should cost the tech giant between $77 million and $150 million.

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The acquisition of Secure Islands will help Microsoft in terms of providing security protocols on its services.

"This acquisition accelerates our ability to help customers secure their business data no matter where it is stored - across on-premises systems, Microsoft cloud services like Azure and Office 365, third-party services, and any Windows, iOS or Android device," Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Cloud and Enterprise Marketing Takeshi Numoto posted on the company's blog.

Technology analysts say the acquisition of Secure Islands is part of Microsoft's strategy to make the cloud a more secure and feasible alternative to large private data centers.

Microsoft is planning to integrate Secure Islands into its Azure Rights Management Service. Secure Islands already has experience dealing with Microsoft's Active Directory Rights Management Service through the company's consulting business. This experience makes Secure Islands a perfect fit for Microsoft's cloud-based management service.

According to Computer World, Security Islands can carry on selling its products and services while both companies are still waiting for regulatory approval regarding the terms of the acquisition.

Microsoft has been busy acquiring security-focused startup companies. It acquired Adallom in September and tasked it to develop the company's Advanced Threat Analytics service.

Last week, Microsoft acquired Mobile Data Labs, the developer of MileIQ, an app that tracks users' mileage.

TagsSecure Islands, online security, cloud security, Microsoft server, Azure