Norton and Avast merge to create an $8 billion antivirus empire
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NortonLifeLock and Avast are combined in a deal worth more than $8 billion, and the deal will see NortonLifelock acquire all of Avast's shares and create a much larger cybersecurity company, NortonLifeLock CEO Vincent Billet says: "Through this combination, we can strengthen Our cyber safety platform will be accessible to more than 500 million users, and we will also have the ability to further accelerate innovation to transform online safety.
The integration should lead to antivirus products that include the benefits of Avast's focus on privacy and NortonLifeLock's experience in identity, all at a time when cybersecurity is critical to both consumers and businesses.
Ransomware is on the rise, with new high-profile cases emerging on a weekly basis and it appears that Gigabyte was hit by a ransomware attack earlier this week, and a massive ransomware attack affected Kaseya's remote IT management clients last month.
These attacks can often lead to supply chain attacks, ransomware or malware incidents affecting ordinary consumers as well, hackers were able to hide malware inside the CCleaner system cleaner utility in 2017, consumers are often the victims when rules are leaked Credit card data and personal information.
Founded in the Czech Republic, Avast has been creating software for consumers and small businesses for 11 years and acquired AVG five years ago.
NortonLifeLock is Symantec's former consumer side, which was abandoned after Broadcom acquired Symantec's enterprise security business two years ago. Norton antivirus has existed in various forms since 1991, and has been a popular choice for consumers for 30 years.