Microsoft Corp has agreed to acquire RiskIQ, a security software maker, as the tech giant tries to expand its products and better protect customers amid a rising tide of global cyberattacks, people familiar with the matter said.
The deal would be announced as soon as the next few days, the people said.
Microsoft would pay more than US$500 million in cash for the company, one of the people said.
Photo: Reuters
San Francisco-based RiskIQ makes cloud software for detecting security threats, helping clients understand where and how they can be attacked on complex webs of corporate networks and devices. Its customers include Facebook Inc, BMW AG, American Express Co and the US Postal Service, according to the company’s Web site.
Known for its annual report on security called the Evil Internet Minute, RiskIQ has raised US$83 million from firms such as Summit Partners and Battery Ventures, according to Crunchbase. It was founded in 2009.
A spokesman for Microsoft declined to comment and RiskIQ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Microsoft has been adding security features to products like Windows and its Azure cloud services to protect individual machines and detect attacks on networks. The company has also added personnel who probe Microsoft’s own products for vulnerabilities, help clients clean up after a cyberattack, and runs a lab called the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center that closely tracks nation-state hackers.
The software maker has also acquired several companies to expand its security capabilities. Last month, Microsoft bought ReFirm Labs, a maker of technology to secure Internet of Things devices, for an undisclosed amount.
In a blog post announcing the deal, the company said it has 3,500 employees working on security at Microsoft and a mission to help protect customers “from the chip to the cloud.”
Microsoft and the rest of the US technology industry, as well as companies and government agencies, have also spent the past eight months grappling with a series of damaging and widespread cyberattacks.
This month, hackers launched a mass ransomware attack that exploited multiple previously unknown vulnerabilities in information technology management software made by Kaseya Ltd.
In March, hackers linked to China used flaws in the code of Microsoft Exchange to break into tens of thousands of organizations, and in an attack disclosed in December last year, suspected Russian hackers compromised popular software from Texas-based firm SolarWinds Corp, inserting malicious code into updates for SolarWinds software.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new