Category Archives: McAfee

acquisition, cyber security, Intel, McAfee, News & Analysis

Intel reported to be looking for security exit

IntelAlmost six years after purchasing antivirus specialists McAfee, Intel is reported to be in the market to sell off its security arm, according to the FT.com.

Intel has yet to make a comment on the speculation, though those close to the deal expect it to be one of the largest in the security sector to date. The company initially announced the McAfee acquisition in August 2010 for $7.6 billion at a time where the concept of IoT was beginning to gain traction, and the size of the online security challenge was being realized.

“With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online,” said Paul Otellini, who was serving as Intel CEO at the time of the acquisition. “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.”

While the introduction of cloud computing has provided smaller business and entrepreneurs a platform to innovate and challenge the tech giants, Intel are one of a number of organizations who have had to evolve their own proposition to remain relevant in the cloud-enabled world. Back in April, CEO Brian Krzanich outlined the long-term Intel strategy, which was split into five areas; cloud technology, IoT, memory and programmable solutions, 5G and developing new technologies under the concept of Moore’s law. While the security business unit is one of the larger within the Intel portfolio, security was not mentioned in the announcement.

The new strategy intends to move Intel away from the PC market place, as declining sales have continued to impact the business. Despite reporting year-on-year growth of 7% during the last quarterly earnings call, this was not enough to deter the company from announcing 12,000 job cuts, equivalent to 11% of the global workforce.

“Our results over the last year demonstrate a strategy that is working and a solid foundation for growth,” said Krzanich, who is leading the company’s shift away from client computing and towards IoT and the cloud. “The opportunity now is to accelerate this momentum and build on our strengths. These actions drive long-term change to further establish Intel as the leader for the smart, connected world. I am confident that we’ll emerge as a more productive company with broader reach and sharper execution.”

Security is an area which is seemingly gaining traction in the venture capitalist arena, as there have been numerous deals announced in recent months. Blue Coat was acquired by Symantec earlier this month from majority shareholder Bain Capital for $4.65 billion, with Bain Capital agreeing to reinvest $750 million, and Silver Lake committing to an additional investment of $500 million. Vista Equity Partners has also agreed to purchase identify management company Ping Identity for an undisclosed sum.

Anonymous, HaaS, Hacking, Hacking-as-a-Service, High Tech Security, Malware, McAfee, Opinion

Let’s Hope Not: Least Favorite 2013 Prediction is “Hacking-as-a-Service”

Among all the pundit predictions for the coming year in cloud computing the one that caught my eye was this one by BusinessInsider’s Julie Bort in an article entitled “5 Totally Odd Tech Predictions That Will Probably Come True Next Year”

1. Bad guys start offering “hacking as a service”

Security company McAfee says that criminal hackers have begun to create invitation-only forums requiring registration fees. Next up, these forums could become some sort of black-market software-as-a-service. Pay a monthly fee and your malware is automatically updated to the latest attack. Don’t pay, and it would be a shame if something happened to your beautiful website …

HaaS? Let’s hope not.

Anti-Virus, Data center, Information security, Internet security, McAfee

McAfee Launches New Data Center Security Suites

Image representing McAfee as depicted in Crunc...

McAfee today announced four new Data Center Security Suites to help secure servers and databases in the data center. The suites offer a unique combination of whitelisting, blacklisting and virtualization technologies for protecting servers and virtual desktops. These solutions provide optimal security for servers and databases in physical, virtualized and cloud-based data centers, with minimal impact on server resources which is a key demand for data centers.

“Performance and security are key concerns for servers in the physical, virtualized or cloud-based data centers,” said Jon Oltsik, Senior Principal Analyst, Information Security and Networking at Enterprise Security Group. “The new server security suites from McAfee, based on its application whitelisting, virtualization and blacklisting and AV technologies, provide an enhanced security posture while maintaining the high server performance needs of the data center.”

The suites offer customers the ability to protect their physical and virtual servers and virtual desktops with a unique combination of technologies in a single solution.

  • McAfee Data Center Security Suite for Server provides a
    complete set of blacklisting, whitelisting, and optimized
    virtualization support capabilities for basic security on servers of
    all types
  • McAfee Data Center Security Suite for Server–Hypervisor Edition
    provides a complete set of blacklisting, whitelisting, and optimized
    virtualization support capabilities for basic security on servers of
    all types and is licensed per Hypervisor
  • McAfee Data Center Security Suite for Virtual Desktop
    Infrastructure     provides comprehensive security for virtual desktop
    deployments without compromising performance or the user experience
  • McAfee Database Server Protection provides data base activity
    monitoring and vulnerability assessment in a single suite, for all
    major database servers in the data center

“McAfee is leading the industry with these new solutions for protecting servers in the data center,” said Candace Worley, senior vice president and general manager of endpoint security at McAfee. “The combination of whitelisting, blacklisting and virtualization in a single solution, offers an optimal security posture for protecting servers in the data centers. These solutions address the need in the industry to offer solutions that provide the highest level of protection with minimal impact on the resources they are deployed on and in a wide range of customized licensing options.”