Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Mobile & Wireless

Apple to Acquire Biometric Security Firm AuthenTec for $350 Million

Apple has agreed to acquire AuthenTec, a provider of mobile and network security technologies including biometric fingerprint sensors and encryption technology for more than $350 million in cash.

Under the terms of the agreement, Apple will pay $8 per share in cash, representing about a 58% premium over Thursday’s price at the close of trading.

Apple has agreed to acquire AuthenTec, a provider of mobile and network security technologies including biometric fingerprint sensors and encryption technology for more than $350 million in cash.

Under the terms of the agreement, Apple will pay $8 per share in cash, representing about a 58% premium over Thursday’s price at the close of trading.

Apple to Acquire AuthenTec

The news comes just a day after Dallas De Atley, manager of the platform security team at Apple, stood in front of a crowd of attendees at the Black Hat USA conference and outlined the company’s approach to protecting iOS, but disappointed attendees by offering little additional information to what was already known.

AuthenTec says it has shipped more than 100 million fingerprint sensors that have been integrated into various electronics including over 15 million mobile phones. The company has 200 filed and issued U.S. patents in areas such as biometric fingerprint sensor industry and cover sensor and packaging design, software, end user applications and embedded security.

The company says its largest customers include ones such as Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Fujitsu, HBO, HP, Lenovo, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Samsung, Sky, and Texas Instruments.

It’s unclear how Apple plans to integrate AuthenTec’s technology into its product line, but based on the company’s product offerings, it’s likely that Apple products could be carrying new biometric security features in the not too distant future.

Under the terms of the deal, if either party terminates the agreement, or antitrust approvals block the deal, Apple will be required to pay the AuthenTec a termination fee of $20.0 million.

On July 26, 2012, Apple and AuthenTec entered into an agreement under which Apple would pay $20 million to acquire non-exclusive licenses and certain other rights with respect to AuthenTec’s hardware technology, software technology and patents. Additionally, Apple will have 270 days from the date of the IP Agreement to choose, in its sole discretion, to license certain hardware technology and patents and/or certain software technology and patents on a perpetual, non-exclusive basis for an aggregate sum of up to $115.0 million

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
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

Mobile & Wireless

Infonetics Research has shared excerpts from its Mobile Device Security Client Software market size and forecasts report, which tracks enterprise and consumer security client...

Mobile & Wireless

Samsung smartphone users warned about CVE-2023-21492, an ASLR bypass vulnerability exploited in the wild, likely by a spyware vendor.

Malware & Threats

Apple’s cat-and-mouse struggles with zero-day exploits on its flagship iOS platform is showing no signs of slowing down.

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...

Mobile & Wireless

Critical security flaws expose Samsung’s Exynos modems to “Internet-to-baseband remote code execution” attacks with no user interaction. Project Zero says an attacker only needs...

Mobile & Wireless

Apple rolled out iOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura 13.2 to cover serious security vulnerabilities.

Mobile & Wireless

Two vulnerabilities in Samsung’s Galaxy Store that could be exploited to install applications or execute JavaScript code by launching a web page.

Mobile & Wireless

Asus patched nine WiFi router security defects, including a highly critical 2018 vulnerability that exposes users to code execution attacks.