WatchGuard Technologies to Acquire Panda Security

[lordman]

WatchGuard Technologies, a leading global provider of network security and intelligence, secure Wi-Fi and multi-factor authentication, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Panda Security, a leading global provider in advanced endpoint protection. Once the integration is complete, our joint customer and partner community will benefit from a powerful security platform that bridges the network and user perimeter, touting the same combination of innovative security features and simplified packaging, deployment and management capabilities that both companies are known for today.

WatchGuard Technologies to Acquire Panda Security - Panda Security Mediacenter

WatchGuard Technologies to Acquire Panda, Extending Simplified Security from Network to Endpoint The combined entity will provide centralized management of advanced threat detection and response…

www.pandasecurity.com

 

[bribon77]

Goodbye Panda. A shame, not a bad product if it combines well.

 

[BVLon]

Goodbye Panda. A shame, not a bad product if it combines well.

I felt so sad when I saw how much their quality has dropped...once upon a time, I used to be a Panda advocate... today, not even I would install them. They used to be a showcase for effective phishing and malware websites protection... now I thought it's got a bug and doesn't work...

 

[gery79]

maybe it would be a good idea

 

[RejZoR]

Maybe it'll get better. Protection wise it's still very good, just execution of it is a bit weird. Like program updating of Panda Free that never actually updates it and you have to install new version over by hand. Things like that...

 

[bayasdev]

I hope they rethink their business strategy, and incorporate some of their enterprise Adaptive Defense techonology into their consumer lineup.

 

[amico81]

any news or improvements after the aquisation? are they still alive?

Panda paid version still on 20.0.1.

 

[Ink]

The real benefits are to WatchGuard products, not Panda Security for consumers.

WatchGuard Technologies Completes Acquisition of Panda Security | WatchGuard Technologies

WatchGuard partners to realize immediate value from Panda Security’s advanced EDR solution through the Panda Security Early Access Program.

www.watchguard.com

 

[bayasdev]

I think their consumer division it's no longer that profitable after the massive adoption of Windows Defender so they're now focusing on enterprise solutions

 

[MacDefender]

Watchguard almost certainly cares more about their UTM (enterprise firewall/IPS/gateway) solutions and not having to pay for an AV engine from a third party is a huge win for that.

WD and other free AV solutions are good for individual device protection, but there's a lot of demand for these fully integrated UTM solutions where the health/presence of an endpoint protection software on a device is a prerequisite to the firewall allowing it onto the network, for example.

Sophos I think does the best job at this product category. They have a decent in-house engine and I believe they still use Avira as their secondary engine.

 

[plat]

Already on its webpage, it's now a "WatchGuard brand."

Thoma Bravo (owner of Sophos) seems more of an investment group and a collector of companies as opposed to WatchGuard's being straight-up security. Do you think in the future, Panda will be operating under a different name? Up to now, the brand-name didn't seem a turn-off for consumers in general, particularly since it had a free version.

But to me: a panda conjures up a happy-go-lucky, roly poly cuddlebug, hardly an image to go along with a supposedly highly vigilant enterprise security on the watch for ransomware and other major threats.

Let's see what happens. Surely, it was a win-win both ways.