Symantec to Acquire VeriSign’s Security Business
Symantec to Acquire VeriSign’s Security Business
Solidifying its Position as
the World’s Most Trusted
Source for Protecting Information and Identities
Online
By restoring trust online
through universal adoption of identity-based security,
Symantec can facilitate a new vision of computing
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced that
it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire VeriSign’s
(Nasdaq: VRSN) identity and authentication business, which
includes the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate
Services, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Services, the
VeriSign Trust Services and the VeriSign Identity Protection
(VIP) Authentication Service. The combination of
VeriSign’s security products, services and recognition as
the most trusted brand online and Symantec’s leading
security solutions and widespread distribution will enable
Symantec to deliver on its vision of a world where people
have simple and secure access to their information from
anywhere.
“With the anonymity of the internet and the evolving threat landscape, people and organisations are struggling to maintain confidence in the security of their interactions, information and identities online. At the same time, people’s personal and professional lives have converged and they want to use their various digital devices to access information wherever they are without jeopardising their privacy,” said Enrique Salem, president and CEO, Symantec. “IT is faced with the challenge of giving users the appropriate access, while ensuring that corporate data is not at risk. We believe the solution to this dilemma lies in the ubiquity of identity-based security. With the combined products and reach from Symantec and VeriSign, we are poised to drive the adoption of identity security as the means to provide simple and secure access to anything from anywhere, to prevent identity fraud and to make online experiences more user-friendly and hassle-free.”
Under
the terms of the agreement, Symantec will purchase the
specific assets from VeriSign, including the majority stake
in VeriSign Japan, for a purchase price of approximately
US$1.28 billion in cash. Symantec expects the transaction to
be 9 cents dilutive to non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal
year 2011, due to the purchase price accounting write down
of deferred revenue, and accretive to non-GAAP earnings per
share in the September 2011 quarter. The agreement is
subject to customary closing conditions, including
regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the
September quarter.
Enabling a
New Vision of Computing
Through this acquisition,
Symantec can help businesses incorporate identity security
into a comprehensive framework so that IT can confidently
and securely adopt new computing models, from cloud
computing to social networking and mobile computing to
user-owned devices that promise operational efficiencies and
freedom of choice for their employees and customers. That
framework is based on five imperatives that Symantec is
enabling as part of its new vision of computing and
includes:
• Identity security: proving that
people and sites are who they say they are
• Mobile
and other device security: securing mobile and other
devices and the information on them
• Information
protection: protecting information from loss, attack,
theft and misuse and ensuring the ability to recover that
information
• Context and relevance: delivering
information that is relevant to people in both their
personal and professional roles
• Cloud security:
ensuring the secure delivery of applications and
information from both public and private
clouds.
Ease-of-use, speed-of-delivery
and user-driven preferences are the new imperatives in
today’s workplace. People whose personal and professional
lives have converged onto their digital devices increasingly
expect the freedom to work from anywhere using their own
devices, to use any application and to collaborate with
anybody in their social network to effectively get their
jobs done and simultaneously live their network-enriched
lives.
IT departments struggle to
meet user expectations with simple, secure and
cost-effective solutions. Cloud computing can provide
instantaneous scale and delivery of applications and
desktops by enabling businesses to leverage services from
the cloud instead of deploying applications on premise.
Identity-based security gives IT the assurance that as
information moves in and out of the cloud it’s always
protected – across any device and between the network and
devices they control and those that they don’t. The
user’s identity drives what information they can access
and how it can be used and shared, independent of the device
or application.
Creating Mutually Trusted
Interactions Online
VeriSign’s SSL Certificate
Services provide users with assurance that the websites they
are interacting with are legitimate and secure and that
their information will be safe when they share it with that
site. The VeriSign check mark signifies the authenticity of
the websites that users visit and assures them that any
sensitive information they share with that site will be
encrypted during online transactions. With more than one
million web servers using VeriSign SSL certificates and an
infrastructure that processes more than two billion
certificate checks daily, VeriSign has the leading share of
the SSL market. The addressable market for the server and
user authentication segment is estimated to reach US$1.6
billion by 2013.
Symantec’s current portfolio and along with assets from VeriSign provide the depth and breadth of technologies to make identity-based security of information more universal and part of a comprehensive security solution. By combining VeriSign’s SSL Certificate Services with Symantec Critical System Protection or Protection Suite for Servers, Symantec will help organisations ensure a higher level of security on their web servers as well as verify that security, providing users with the trust and confidence necessary to do business online.
VeriSign helps organisations validate the identity of users through its VIP user authentication service that complements the existing Identity Safe capabilities within the Norton products. The cloud-based VIP service helps organisations doing business online confirm the identities of their customers, employees and partners through user-owned digital certificates that reside on a card, token or other device such as a mobile phone, ensuring that they are giving only legitimate users access to their information. VeriSign has already issued more than two million VIP credentials to individuals and has a network of hundreds of merchants.
Through Symantec’s worldwide distribution network and footprint on more than one billion systems – including end-user devices such as laptops, desktops and smart devices, as well as servers – Symantec can facilitate the ubiquity of identity security through digital certificates for both individuals and companies. This is critical to creating mutually trusted interactions online. Merchants have added incentive to join the VIP network if user certificates are widely distributed. More merchants in the VIP network means a more secure and convenient experience for customers moving among member sites. Merchants benefit as well from knowing their customers are also trusted and secure.
Symantec can expand the VIP ecosystem by incorporating user certificates into its Norton-branded consumer products providing a channel through which consumers can easily create secure identities that can be authenticated when they do business online. In addition, the combination of the information classification capabilities of Symantec’s Data Loss Prevention solutions and Data Insight technology along with VeriSign’s identity security services, will allow us to help customers ensure that only authorised users have access to specific information.
Signifying Trust
Online
The VeriSign check mark is the most recognised
symbol of trust online with more than 175 million
impressions every day on more than 90,000 websites in 160
countries. Symantec’s security solutions and the
company’s Norton-branded suites protect more than one
billion systems and users around the world. With the
addition of VeriSign’s security assets, Symantec will
become the leading source of trust online. Following the
close of the transaction, Symantec plans to incorporate the
VeriSign check mark into a new Symantec logo to convey to
users that it is safe to communicate, transact commerce and
exchange information online.
About Symantec
Symantec is a global leader in providing security,
storage and systems management solutions to help consumers
and organisations secure and manage their information-driven
world. Our software and services protect against more risks
at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling
confidence wherever information is used or stored. More
information is available at www.symantec.com.
ENDS