Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Symantec To Acquire LifeLock for $2.3B (usatoday.com)

Posted by msmash on from the big-shark,-small-shark dept.

Symantec is acquiring identity-theft protection firm LifeLock for $2.3 billion, the companies announced today. It's the company's latest move to branch out from malware protection into cybersecurity, following its purchase of Blue Coat, a company that safeguards web transactions. "With the combination of Norton and LifeLock, we will be able to deliver comprehensive cyber defense for consumers," Symantec said. From a report on USA Today:Symantec will finance the deal with a combination of cash and $750 million of new debt, the company said in a statement. The deal will close during the first calendar quarter of 2017. The combination of LifeLock and Norton, Symantec's suite of antivirus and anti-spyware tools, will help the company deliver "comprehensive" protection for consumers, said Symantec CEO Greg Clark. "This acquisition marks the transformation of the consumer security industry from malware protection to the broader category of digital safety for consumers," said Clark. Symantec sees a growing market for digital safety, estimated at $10 billion and 80 million consumers. "People's identity and data are prime targets of cybercrime," said Symantec board chairman Dan Schulman. "The security industry must step up and defend through innovation and vigilance."

41 comments

  1. Worthless junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Norton + LifeLock = No Thanks.

    Two bad products rolled into one. Genius.

    1. Re:Worthless junk by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      It's the perfect security system. Your system will slow to a crawl, to the point where you just get up and go do something else, never having put any confidential data on your computer at all.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Worthless junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That can be fixed simply by adding Symantec LifeLock IOT Guard (tm) to protect your Internet of Things devices from malicious attacks from outside your house, even from outside the country! This is an add-on module for a low monthly rate, $4.99 for the first 6 IOT devices and an additional $1.99 for every 5 after that.

    3. Re:Worthless junk by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Didn't the CEO of Life Lock get hacked multiple times? Sounds like they are made for each other.

      What's sad is that Symantec are still in business off the back of their corporate products. Business think they can tick the security box, do their due diligence and cover the CTO's arse by buying their services. That's why so much personal data gets stolen.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Worthless junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From what I've experienced, Symantec and Norton are two different product entirely. I hardly notice the former at work. When we had Norton at home, I noticed. I noticed a lot! usually because everything else stopped working.

    5. Re:Worthless junk by CaptainDork · · Score: 3, Informative

      This.

      In fact, Lifelock CEO Davis was the victim of identity theft in 2007 when a thief used his widely advertised Social Security number to obtain a $500 loan in Davis’ name.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    6. Re:Worthless junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Worse than that, it's happened multiple times. Dude had to claim bankruptcy at least once, IIRC.

    7. Re:Worthless junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lifelock sold their scam product to Symantec for $2.3b. Just goes to prove America is great! And a fool with money soon has none.

    8. Re: Worthless junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awesome. Now a company that sucks at protecting your systems can also suck at dealing with the consequences.

  2. No they are not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Blah blah blah

  3. Symantec to burn 2.3 billion dollars in large fire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised they had that much to burn.

  4. Man! When is this bubble gonna pop?? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Since the big "upset", probably sooner than later. Everything is so overpriced, except human labor.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Man! When is this bubble gonna pop?? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Since the big "upset", probably sooner than later. Everything is so overpriced, except human labor.

      One of Donald's big promises was tax cuts for corporations and the rich. That is one promise that the Republican majority in Congress will support, and the Democrats cannot filibuster budgets. So, rather than popping, it is more likely the bubble will inflate even more.

  5. What does Lifelock _do_ ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Outside of scaring AARP members to pay for it, what do they actually DO for you?

    1. Re:What does Lifelock _do_ ? by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      When you get your identity stolen, like during a hacking of a bank system, the bank will offer you 3 months of credit protection (credit report monitoring) for free. Lifelock does the same thing, but on a yearly basis. They also file reports with the credit reporting companies to make sure any credit card fraud doesn't affect your credit score.

    2. Re:What does Lifelock _do_ ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They only do that for their premium package. LifeLock is nearly an utterly useless service. The parent post was right, they make their money by scaring AARP members and other uniformed, technically incompetent people willing to give up $30/month every month for "piece of mind".

      You can monitor your own credit for free.

    3. Re:What does Lifelock _do_ ? by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      You can monitor your own credit for free.

      Yes, you can. But you can only get one credit report PER YEAR free. You probably could get one free from each of the 3 credit reporting companies, so effectively, you would get 3 reports per year, but who is to say that each report contains the exact same info?

      Also, once you get a credit report, do you know what to look for? How do you tell what is suspicious, and what is business as normal?

    4. Re:What does Lifelock _do_ ? by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      You can monitor your own credit for free.

      Yes, you can. But you can only get one credit report PER YEAR free. You probably could get one free from each of the 3 credit reporting companies, so effectively, you would get 3 reports per year, but who is to say that each report contains the exact same info?

      The Equifax, TransUnion and Experian credit reports do typically contain different info and are formatted differently. The information is different because they each acquire it from different places.

      Also, once you get a credit report, do you know what to look for? How do you tell what is suspicious, and what is business as normal?

      They contain a list of your home addresses, typically with a bunch of bogus entries that are a mix of two valid addresses, or entries where letters or digits were transposed. There's also a list of your credit accounts, current status, account open/close dates, along with entries if you've been 30, 60, 90, etc. days past due. Just have them remove the bad addresses and look for any accounts you didn't open.

  6. Solved by copyright by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

    Let me copyright my SSN, and my name/birthdate combination. If you could copyright your personal data, then sue for identity theft. As it stands now, the penalties for stores that mishandle your data is near-zero. And there's a growing number of companies that hold information, but don't contact people. They sell the database, but without right.

    So when you tell Bob to take you off their list, they can't. The list is owned by Alice, and Alice will never call you. Chris calls, from the same list Bob used. You can never get off the list Bob used. That should be illegal. Anyone that holds or uses your personal data should be required by law to disclose where they learned it from.

    But the government passes CAN SPAM laws that tell companies they can spam you. But nobody in power wants to change it, so we are left with government by the 1% for the 1%.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
    1. Re:Solved by copyright by krelvin · · Score: 1

      You can't copyright your SSN.

      Subject matter eligible for copyright protection in the US must be expressive and creative. Raw, factual data cannot be copyrighted.

    2. Re:Solved by copyright by denis-The-menace · · Score: 1

      whatever you say:

      https://www.extremetech.com/co...

      --
      Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
    3. Re:Solved by copyright by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      It would take no more than a law change to change that. That's exactly what I was calling for. A law change to make personal data be copyrighted by the person it "belongs to".

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
  7. Why LifeLock? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What does LifeLock even do now? Originally, they just put false fraud alerts on clients's credit; they got sued for that, and now what? How do they monitor?

    I'm not sure what LifeLock even provides anymore, besides a target for lawsuits.

    --
    Support my political activism on Patreon.
    1. Re:Why LifeLock? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They get together with Suze Orman and scam even more dumbasses?

    2. Re:Why LifeLock? by Bradac_55 · · Score: 1

      It's a insurance racket. the money you pay monthly to them goes in the pot and "if" someone gets screwed they pay out $1million dollars but just like any insurance company there are stipulations on there love.

      In the end they make more than they payout so yes it's lucrative with nearly every online and radio talk host hawking there product.

    3. Re:Why LifeLock? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Insurance companies typically provide a valuable service, and they pay more than they take in; they float their money on market speculation, and tend to come out ahead. State Farm pays like $1.03 for every $1 of income, but makes more than 3% on investments (even I can do that--I fluctuate between +3% and +6.2% lately; I used to average 1% per day or a 1300% annual rate, but that was ludicrous amounts of work). LifeLock isn't an insurance plan and isn't an insurance company; it's a service that doesn't seem to explain what it really provides, with a marketing hook that doesn't seem like it would ever pay out because those conditions are almost never met.

      --
      Support my political activism on Patreon.
  8. Worthless companies combine! by The-Ixian · · Score: 2

    Form of: dinosaur!

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    1. Re:Worthless companies combine! by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Shape of: aged fossil!
      Form of: Lost liquidity!

      Blunder Twin powers, dedicate!

  9. Re: Symantec to burn 2.3 billion dollars in large by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another dot com bubble

  10. Blue Coat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Blue Coat, a company that safeguards web transactions.

    Calling Blue Coat a company that "safeguards" transactions is like calling Jeffrey Dahmer a person who "safeguards" body parts.

    http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-controversial-surveillance-firm-was-granted-a-powerful-encryption-certifica

     

  11. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the company who's CEO had his identity stolen 13 times (and that was just as of 2010) after challenging people to steal it.

    1. Re:Great by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      You did this before I did, but it ain't no lie.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  12. Corp buyout means contracts void by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Your protection just went bye bye.

    Seen this movie before.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  13. Lifelock is useless by mschuyler · · Score: 2

    A couple of years ago I got caught in the Stratfor hack. They waited a couple of weeks before telling customers. I verified my info was in the wild. A full month later Lifelock informed me I might have been hacked. By that time I had replaced everything. Useless service.

    --
    How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
  14. Instead of lifelock by stabiesoft · · Score: 1

    Serious question, has anyone tried putting freezes on their credit? I think its like 10 bucks(each bureau) and then you have to do a thaw/freeze everytime you want to actually do credit. Is the freeze/thaw a huge hassle? I've done temp freezes when I was in one of those giant hacks, but those only last 6 months and are free.

    1. Re:Instead of lifelock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've had a freeze on all three credit agencies for a little over 2 years. Can't say it has necessarily been effective (nor can I say it has not). I wasn't hacked before I froze and I haven't been hacked after. So in effect, I have no idea if it has helped. But it's inexpensive "peace of mind". Small hassle when I need a legitimate credit check.

      But here's another interesting thing. My credit is frozen but my wife's is not. We used her SSN once to apply for cable service and it went straight through. Being as how we are married in a community property state, that kinda makes me feel my credit freezes are meaningless :-(

  15. Also banned, for fraud by raymorris · · Score: 1

    He was also banned from being an executive or owner of any such business because he engaged in widespread fraud. He continued to appear in commercials for the scam^H^H^H^H company.

  16. Great Another Product They Will Mess Up by WindowsStar · · Score: 1

    Seem like everything Symantec touches they ruin. So now we lose LifeLock! Ouch!

  17. Farewell LifeLock by no1nose · · Score: 1

    I'm not saying LifeLock was worthwhile. But after Symantec acquires it, it will no longer be viable. I hope a start-up is waiting in the wings to take over the spot LifeLock tried to fill.