Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Fraud & Identity Theft

Symantec to Acquire LifeLock for $2.3 Billion

Information security giant Symantec said on Monday that it will acquire identity protection firm LifeLock for $2.3 billion. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Symantec will pay $24 per share in a transaction financed with cash on hand and $750 million of new debt. 

Information security giant Symantec said on Monday that it will acquire identity protection firm LifeLock for $2.3 billion. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Symantec will pay $24 per share in a transaction financed with cash on hand and $750 million of new debt. 

LifeLock provides identity and fraud protection services to more than 4.4 million customers. 

While Symantec is shelling out billions to acquire to the leading provider of identity theft protection services, LifeLock has had its share of blemishes over the years.

In March 2010, the FTC slapped LifeLock with a fine of $11 million to settle charges that the company used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services. At the same time, the company agreed to pay $1 million to a group of 35 state attorneys general.

“While LifeLock promised consumers complete protection against all types of identity theft, in truth, the protection it actually provided left enough holes that you could drive a truck through it,” now former FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said at the time.

In late 2015, LifeLock agreed to pay a fine of $100 million after failing to comply with the 2010 federal court order requiring it to secure consumers’ personal information and prohibiting deceptive advertising.

Allegations claimed that LifeLock made false claims about protecting the personal information it collects from its customers, including “falsely advertising that it protected consumers’ sensitive data with the same high-level safeguards as financial institutions.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

As part of its marketing campaigns, LifeLock would often post the Social Security number of its CEO at the time Todd Davis in its advertisements—a show of confidence that the company’s service can protect consumers who may have had their private information exposed, including Social their Security numbers.  However, according to the Phoenix New Times, Davis had been a victim of identity theft at least 13 times.

Despite past issues at LifeLock, Symantec believes the LifeLock service can be a valuable addition to its consumer-focused security offerings.

Symantec CEO Greg Clark said the acquisition would allow it to bundle Symantec’s Norton security software with LifeLock’s protection service. “This acquisition marks the transformation of the consumer security industry from malware protection to the broader category of Digital Safety for consumers,” Clark said in a statement.

“People’s identity and data are prime targets of cybercrime.  The security industry must step up and defend through innovation and vigilance,” said Dan Schulman, Symantec’s Chairman of the Board. “With the acquisition of LifeLock, Symantec adds a new dimension to its protection capabilities to address the expanding needs of the consumer marketplace.”

The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval in the United States and LifeLock stockholder approval.

Written By

For more than 15 years, Mike Lennon has been closely monitoring the threat landscape and analyzing trends in the National Security and enterprise cybersecurity space. In his role at SecurityWeek, he oversees the editorial direction of the publication and is the Director of several leading security industry conferences around the world.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Application Security

Virtualization technology giant VMware on Tuesday shipped urgent updates to fix a trio of security problems in multiple software products, including a virtual machine...

Application Security

Fortinet on Monday issued an emergency patch to cover a severe vulnerability in its FortiOS SSL-VPN product, warning that hackers have already exploited the...

Fraud & Identity Theft

Famed hacker Kevin Mitnick has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  At the time of his death, he was Chief Hacking Officer at...

Fraud & Identity Theft

A team of researchers has demonstrated a new attack method that affects iPhone owners who use Apple Pay and Visa payment cards. The vulnerabilities...

Cybercrime

Deepfakes, left unchecked, are set to become the cybercriminals’ next big weapon

Cybercrime

A threat actor tracked as ‘Scattered Spider’ is targeting telecommunications and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in an effort to gain access to mobile...

Application Security

Password management firm LastPass says the hackers behind an August data breach stole a massive stash of customer data, including password vault data that...

Cybercrime

While there are likely many different approaches, here are a few points that are important for enterprises to consider when evaluating bot solutions.