Symantec to acquire data security company

Security company Symantec is to acquire Vontu for US$350 million.

Tom Kendra, president of Symantec's Security and Data Management Group, said: "The combination of Symantec's existing portfolio and Vontu's leading products and team enables us to deliver information-centric security that protects both the device and the information itself."

Vontu makes technology which is designed to detect and prevent the unauthorised transmission of information outside an organisation.

Websense, which purchased data-loss prevention company PortAuthority Technologies in January, was dismissive of Symantec's capabilities.

"Symantec does not provide intelligence about the content user or the destination of the content--critical parts of a complete information-leak prevention solution," said Mark Murtagh, Websense's technical director.

Security companies--Trend Micro, McAfee and Websense, for example--have been vacuuming up specialists in such data-leak prevention technology this year.