Micsoroft will buy a second antivirus maker, one whose specialty is software protecting corporate networks from e-mail threats, an announcement the software giants made even as they issued new security fixes for Windows XP and Office XP.
Microsoft said February 8 that they would buy Long Island-based Sybari Software. Sybari was reported to have been planning an initial public stock offering and estimated itself to have a $186 million market value in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Terms and closing of the deal were not disclosed, but Microsoft Security Business and Technology Unit vice president Michael Nash said Microsoft would make a Sybari-based product under its own brand “soon” after the closing of the deal. Sybari’s signature product is a tool that scans business e-mail to help block attacks.
The Sybari announcement came almost a year and a half after Microsoft bought a Romanian antivirus maker, GeCAD Software, after which Microsoft also bought Giant Company Software, whose tools remove spyware.
Microsoft also issued seven new security patches – several of which apply to Service Pack 2 upgrades – for Windows XP, including Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, while the eighth patch addresses Office XP. These were patches for highly critical vulnerabilities; the company also released four patches addressing lesser threat levels that could still let attackers take control of remote computer systems.
