Facebook Acquires Online Security Company PrivateCore

Português: FaceBook's Prineville Data Centre This is a photo of FaceBook's new custom-built Data Center based in Prineville, Oregon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Palo-Alto based Facebookannounced Thursday that it has acquired security startup PrivateCore, a Palo-Alto secure server technology company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but PrivateCore was backed by some of the most prominent VCs- TEEC Angel Fund and Foundation Capital.  

Founded in 2011 and based in Palo Alto, California, PrivateCore offered something it called the “vCage solution”, which allowed the company to validate the integrity of remote users while protecting data –in-use. PrivateCore’s vCage technology was a big win for Facebook, it will help protect computers and data center from persistent malware, unauthorized physical access and malicious hardware. 

Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan said that PrivateCore's technology "protects servers from persistent malware, unauthorized physical access, and malicious hardware devices, making it safer to run any application in outsourced, hosted or cloud environments."

While Oded Horovitz, CEO PrivateCore, posted the following on PrivateCore's website:

Since the beginning, we have worked tirelessly on our technology to protect servers from malware threats, unauthorized physical access, and malicious hardware devices. Working together with Facebook, there is a huge opportunity to pursue our joint vision at scale with incredible impact. Over time, Facebook plans to deploy our technology into the Facebook stack to help protect the people who use Facebook. We know we will learn and grow as we continue developing our technology and making it stronger.

The acquisition is a part of Facebook’s web strategy- increased focus on security and privacy. Currently, Facebook has been working hard to secure all of its datacenter with some added protections and newly acquired technology. The company’s move to acquire PrivateCore is especially interesting; it comes amid a growing number of high-profile data breaches in the industry. Last week, the NY Times shocked the whole world when it reported that a small cybersecurity firm uncovered about 1.2 billion internet logins and passwords amassed by a notorious Russian hackers group. 

Image credit: CNET

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