Trend Micro Acquired Mobile Armor

Trend Micro Incorporated announced the signing of definitive agreement to purchase data protection specialist, Mobile Armor, Inc., in a move to expand its data protection product portfolio.

Mobile Armor, based in St. Louis, Missouri is majority owned by Dolphin Equity of New York, New York. Financial terms are not disclosed. The transaction, which is subject to certain closing conditions, including certain regulatory approvals, is expected to close before December 31, 2010.

Mobile Armor’s data protection offerings provide full-disk, file/folder, and removable media encryption for endpoints complementing Trend Micro’s existing data loss prevention, email encryption and cloud encryption products. The acquisition furthers Trend Micro’s leadership in providing data protection and encryption from the endpoint to the cloud for all major customer segments. Small and medium businesses, large enterprises and government organizations will receive centrally-managed data protection while benefiting from a more flexible, effective layer of protection by encrypting data no matter where it resides.

Data protection is a growing concern for businesses as indicated by consultancy IDC’s estimate that the market for endpoint encryption is growing at an estimated 14 percent CAGR through 2014.  State and national governments are enacting more stringent regulations such as the U.S. HITECH Act, the U.K. Data Protection Act, and the German Federal Data Protection Act. Together with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), such regulations are driving the need to encrypt sensitive information and protect privacy. The increased frequency and cost of data breaches are also driving the adoption of encryption as organizations strive to mitigate risks and protect sensitive information from unauthorized access.

"This acquisition will expand our endpoint security market reach and will provide our customers with proven technology for encrypting data on laptops, tablet PCs, and smartphones. Mobile Armor’s solutions further our vision of protecting digital information wherever it resides and complements our recent announcement of Trend Micro SecureCloud for securing and controlling data in the cloud," said Eva Chen, CEO, Trend Micro. "Mobile Armor’s endpoint encryption suite will enhance our data protection portfolio for the cloud computing era."

"Security-minded buyers are assured that the Mobile Armor solution is fortified, tested, and proven to have the quality, certifications and critical security features that other data security solutions do not have. For customers, we see Mobile Armor complementing Trend Micro’s data protection strategy and contributing over time to Trend Micro’s mobile and cloud security initiatives and Trend Micro’s worldwide reach and extensive resources adding value to the Mobile Armor customer base," said Michael Menegay, CEO,  Mobile Armor.

"Each year, hundreds of thousands of laptops, phones and removable media devices are estimated by various sources to go missing through loss or theft, to have their data copied without consent, and to be upgraded or exchanged without having their data removed," according to a recent Gartner report. "Mobile data protection (MDP) is an attractive complement to the endpoint protection (EPP) product suites, which already encompass enterprise antivirus (AV), anti-spyware, personal firewall and desktop host intrusion prevention system."