Russian internet firm, which operates the largest search engine in the country, Yandex has bought Agnitum, a research and development software specialist in information security, for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition is expected to contribute to the enhanced protection for Yandex’ browser users, it says. Under the terms of the deal, the Agnitum experts, testers and developers have been offered to join Yandex’ team in St Petersburg.
Agnitum, which was founded originally in St Petersburg in 1999, specialises in delivery of anti-virus software, firewalls, proactive protection technologies, web content filtering and e-mail intrusion prevention. Consequently, Yandex sees the biggest potential synergy arising from this move in a development of active protection technology that will be utilised to enhance safety for its users. To this end, the company plans to use the Agnitum’s expertise and combine several mechanisms such as protection against theft of passwords, the function ‘Safe Wi-Fi’ that blocks suspicious sites and enables anti-virus scanning of files.
“We strive to make the use of the Yandex browser as safe as possible. The Agnitum’s technology will help us improve our security mechanisms. Thanks to them, Yandex browser will be able to effectively combat malicious programmes when it comes to download files, phishing, spoofing traffic, data theft, bank cards and other threats,” says Head of Browser and Mobile Technologies, Yandex, Dmitry Polishchuk.
Currently the Yandex browser is available on operating systems including Windows, Mac OS and Linux as well as on mobile devices running iOs and Android. According to different sources, Yandex is believed to be the second most popular desktop browser in the Russian segment of the internet market.