Symantec To Acquire WholeSecurity

Symantec announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire privately-held WholeSecurity, Inc.. The deal is scheduled to close in October.

WholeSecurity makes behavior-based security solutions and anti-phishing technology. A primary difference in WholeSecurity behavior-based security solutions is that, unlike many other solutions, they are capable of analyzing and detecting malware such as worms, viruses, and keystroke loggers, without relying on a signature database.

Enrique Salem, senior vice president, Symantec Security Products and Solutions, said "WholeSecurity's family of solutions provides critical behavior-based security technology that we expect to [become] a core component of Symantec's baseline consumer security and enterprise desktop solutions."

WholeSecurity was recently named one of Fortune Magazine's "25 Breakout Companies" for 2005. Companies cited in Fortune's list are "upstarts that are changing the game" and are chosen from a list of companies submitted by numerous sources including venture capitalists, and entrepeneurs.

One other security-related company, Orchestria, made Fortune's 2005 list. Orchestria makes solutions that help assure policy compliance of people using common tools such as email, instant messaging, Web browsers, and more.