Report: Microsoft paying $320 million for cloud security provider Adallom

Adallom provides back-end security tools that gather usage data and detect suspicious activity. Its services are used by Netflix, SAP and Hewlett-Packard, according to the company's website. The acquisition was reported Monday by the Calcalist financial newspaper.

A spokesman for Adallom declined to comment, and Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Adallom could help boost the defenses of Microsoft products including Office 365 and Yammer. Adallom's tools can give businesses more granular control over who has access to Office 365, or identify anomalies in usage patterns for the cloud suite, according to Adallom's website. An acquisition would bring those tools under Microsoft's umbrella.

Purchasing Adallom would be another instance of Microsoft looking outward to boost its security. Late last year, the company acquired Aorato for its machine learning and security infrastructure services.

Since taking the reins as CEO last year, Satya Nadella has sought to position Microsoft as a cloud, mobile and productivity services company.

Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com