Category: Mobile Security

AVG Technologies has announced its intentions to purchase Location Labs.

The Dutch anti-virus and internet security software company has revealed it has made a $220 million deal to acquire the California-based mobile security firm in an effort to improve its security offerings for mobile devices.

Many of the top mobile operators in the US market use Location Labs technologies.

At&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and Telefonica use the mobile security company’s integrated platform to provide their Android smartphones with integrated security, which comes as a pre-installed service on the phones.

According to AVG, the acquisition will considerably widen its position as an internet security provider and will also speed up the expansion of its mobile security division. At the same time, by acquiring Location Labs, AVG stated it will not only gain access to personal security products of value, but could also form new partnerships with the four major US mobile operators.

“Location Labs has effectively cracked the code for mobile monetisation through its highly successful business model with industry partners. This acquisition significantly accelerates AVG’s mobile strategy in this area,” said AVG’s CEO Gary Kovacs. He noted that the company is not only unique in the market for providing secure mobile services, but it has also managed to do this in a way that generates money.

The deal gives Location Labs the chance to boost its mobile security offerings beyond the US market.

Tasso Roumeliotis, the founder of Location Labs, said that by adding AVG’s mobile products to their own “services and products will significantly enhance the innovation and support we can provide to our partners and to additional markets worldwide.”

Under agreement terms, AVG is to pay $149 million upfront and, based on performance levels and targets, an additional $80 million over the next two years. Before the acquisition takes place, it requires shareholder approval. However, if it is accepted, it is anticipated that the deal will close during Q4 2014.

Presently, AVG’s offerings for mobile security include AVG Zen, which is an app for both Android powered mobile devices and Windows PCs, as well as AVG AntiVirus for Android.

As the number of cyber attacks over traditional computers, smartphones, and tablets grow, this is worrying.

Technology news reports are continually announcing the latest massive cyber attacks and data breaches, but this doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact on many people in the United Kingdom, as a new survey has shown that many are not taking mobile security all that seriously.

It would be expected that these headlines would cause the average users to take protective measures.

However, this does not appear to be the case. The survey was conducted on behalf of ZenMate by OnePoll. It involved the participation of 2,000 respondents from the United Kingdom. What it determined was that there is an overall apathy present among smartphone users when it comes to their own mobile security. Fewer than half of the people who were surveyed said that they take any action to ensure that they are using protected connections or that they secure their browsing data when using their smartphones.

Over 45 percent said that they didn’t even take the basic mobile security step to use a password to lock their devices.

Without even using a smartphone password to lock the device, if that gadget is ever stolen, the thief would be able to gain instant access to any apps, contacts, or other personal data contained within the mobile device. This is quite surprising, when taking into consideration all of the attention that is being received by the prevalence of cyber attacks, overall.

Moreover, with reports that suggest that the GCHQ and the NSA have been monitoring online communications, it would be easy to assume that smartphone users would want to take a few extra steps to remain protected against data theft and other related threats. The results of this survey, however, clearly indicate otherwise when it comes to the typical British smartphone using consumer.

Only 41.5 percent of the survey participants said that they took precautionary mobile security measures, even when asked about their habits when using unsecured public networks. This aligns well with a recent Ofcom report that indicated that people don’t usually think twice about their privacy when they access public WiFi connections.