McAfee today acquired mobile encryption provider SafeBoot for $350 million to boost its enterprise data security offerings.
The purchase complements McAfee's existing data-loss protection solution and its ePolicy Orchestrator, a centralized management and reporting solution, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said today in a statement.
Netherlands-based SafeBoot, which also offers access control protection, provides device, whole-disk and content encryption. The company, with U.S. headquarters in Naples, Fla., caters to customers in more than 75 countries, mostly in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
"SafeBoot's industry-leading mobile security solutions address a critical pain point for customers — the protection of confidential and proprietary information," Dave DeWalt, McAfee's president and chief executive officer, said. "This combination helps advance our security risk management strategy and extend our leadership at the endpoint."
SafeBoot's CEO Gerhard Watzinger said the deal will help its 4,200 customers better deal with the complexities of managing data.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, after which SafeBoot's technologies and McAfee's data-loss protection solutions will be combined to create a new data protection product business unit. Watzinger will head the new division.
