PGP and GuardianEdge snapped up in surprise dual acquisition.
Symantec
has announced the acquisition of two separate firms specialising in encryption and email security. The deals were completed in cash with
PGP
, a renowned specialist in public key cryptography, costing $300 million and
GuardianEdge
, which also provides encryption and data loss prevention solutions, snapped up for $70 million.
According to details released by
Symantec
, technology provided by the two firms will be merged into the
Symantec
portfolio to offer its customers a wider choice of encryption techniques, while the
PGP
key management system will be adopted as a standard across the range of brands.
It is not the first time the
PGP
name has come under the control of an anti-virus giant, with the original technology developed by Phil Zimmermann in 1991 eventually being taken over by
Network Associates
(
NAI
, nowadays better known as
McAfee
) in 1997; the current company
PGP Corporation
was formed in 2002, with the products and IP bought back from
NAI
.
GuardianEdge
, meanwhile, traces its history back to 1984 with the release of
PC Guardian
hardware security solutions by
Micro Security Devices Inc
. The firm moved into encryption in the mid-1990s and took on the name
GuardianEdge
in 2005.
The official announcement of the deal from
Symantec
is
here
with more details
here
.
Posted on 04 May 2010 by
Virus Bulletin
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