Symantec has announced plans to acquire Skycure, a risk-based enterprise mobility solutions provider, for an undisclosed sum. It's the latest in a growing list of M&A deals designed to reshape Symantec for modern cloud, mobile and cyberthreats.
Just last week, Symantec acquired Fireglass, an agentless isolation solution that eliminates ransomware, malware and phishing threats in real-time by preventing potentially harmful content from ever reaching user endpoints or the corporate network, the companies said. And in two larger deals last year, Symantec underwent a leadership shakeup amid the Blue Coat buyout, and then purchased Lifelock for $2.3 billion in November 2016.
Fast forward to present day, and the Skycure acquisition moves Symantec one step closer to protecting 1 billion endpoints worldwide. As part of the acquisition, Symantec will incorporate Skycure into the Symantec Integrated Cyber Defense Platform. The Symantec Integrated Cyber Defense Platform enables Symantec products to share threat intelligence across all control points, the company added.
The Skycure transaction is expected to close in the second fiscal quarter of 2017, Symantec said. At that time, Skycure's technologies are expected to be available to Symantec's existing and new Endpoint Protection and Norton Antivirus customers and partners, Symantec noted.
What Is Skycure Mobile Threat Defense?
Skycure Mobile Threat Defense is a cybersecurity solution designed to protect end users against a variety of attack vectors, including:
- Malware.
- Network.
- Physical.
- Vulnerability.
The solution leverages multi-layered detection and analysis, Skycure said, as well as crowdsourced intelligence and machine learning to help end users identify malicious apps.
With the combination of Skycure and the Symantec Integrated Cyber Defense Platform, Symantec customers will have access to endpoint protection offerings across traditional and mobile devices and advanced capabilities for mobile devices, applications, network gateways and data protection, Symantec asserts.
Symantec's Evolution
Symantec. which acquired experienced many ups and downs in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017, and some of the highlights from the company's quarterly earnings report included:
- Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) revenue of $1.12 billion, up from $873 million in 4Q16.
- GAAP net loss of $143 million, compared to net income of $2.05 billion one year earlier.
- Non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of $0.28, up from $0.22 year over year.
Ultimately, Symantec's 4Q17 financial results demonstrate consistent execution across the company's enterprise and consumer digital safety businesses, CEO Greg Clark said in a prepared statement.
The financial results also indicate the Symantec Integrated Cyber Defense Platform is gaining traction with enterprise customers, Clark said.
Symantec is projecting GAAP revenue between $1.13 billion and $1.16 billion in 1Q18, which would represent year-over-year growth between 31 percent and 34 percent, according to the company.
