{"id":337776,"date":"2017-04-06T16:42:02","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T08:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1473506"},"modified":"2017-04-06T16:42:02","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T08:42:02","slug":"f-secure-buys-little-flocker-to-upgrade-its-mac-security-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/f-secure-buys-little-flocker-to-upgrade-its-mac-security-play\/","title":{"rendered":"F-Secure buys Little Flocker to upgrade its Mac security play"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski revealed he was joining Apple earlier this month<\/a>, and now it turns out his Mac security app, Little Flocker, has gone awol<\/a> because it\u2019s joining F-Secure.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s great that @jzdziarski got a job at Apple, but what\u2019s going on with #LittleFlocker<\/a>? Site is down; can\u2019t download installer after buying<\/p>\n

\u2014 Danny M. Sohayda (@DMStechnical) April 4, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n

The security firm said today<\/a>\u00a0it has acquired the behavioral based analysis\u00a0app for Macs and macOS, which\u00a0monitors apps that attempt to access confidential files and system resources to flag up and block\u00a0malware. It also detects and blocks Mac ransomware.<\/p>\n

The acquisition price for Little Flocker has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n

F-Secure said Little Flocker will be built into a new product it\u2019s releasing, called Xfence,\u00a0which will offer\u00a0\u201cadvanced behavioural Mac protection for both corporate and consumer customers\u201d \u2014 vs\u00a0the traditional signature-based approach\u00a0for detecting Mac\u00a0malware that it argues\u00a0can\u2019t pick up on \u201cmodern targeted attacks\u201d.<\/p>\n

For businesses, the core Little Flocker technology will be combined with F-Secure\u2019s security cloud and packaged into its\u00a0Protection Service for Business: a security solution with centrally managed computer, mobile and server security with integrated patch management and mobile device management.<\/p>\n

While consumers customers will be able to tap into it as part of F-Secure Safe, it\u2019s multi-device security offering.<\/p>\n

F-Secure also says it\u00a0will continue to offer the tool (rebranded as Xfence) for \u201ctech savvy users\u201d to download \u2014 noting this will be\u00a0available\u00a0in a free beta \u201csoon\u201d via its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Janne Pirttilahti, VP\u00a0R&D of F-Secure\u2019s\u00a0corporate cyber security business unit confirmed to TechCrunch that while the Little Flocker app has already been withdrawn the\u00a0standalone version of Xfence will contain \u201cthe same features and functionalities\u201d. He said the first release for this is being targeted by the end of next week.<\/p>\n

He added that existing uses of Little Flocker will continue to have the perpetual license which they\u2019ve paid for, and said\u00a0they will later be\u00a0offered F-Secure Safe \u201conce we\u2019ve integrated the technology\u201d.<\/p>\n

While Macs do not attracted\u00a0the vast\u00a0volume of malware that PCs do, F-Secure\u00a0argues the platform is\u00a0of increasing interest to hackers owning to the\u00a0popularity of Macs among senior-level employees and other high-value targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cMacs have become an appealing entry point for attackers seeking to penetrate organisations. With Little Flocker\u2019s technology, we will enhance the behavioural blocking capabilities in our Mac endpoint protection to stop modern adversaries cold,\u201d said Mika St\u00e5hlberg, chief technology officer at F-Secure, in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski revealed he was joining Apple earlier this month, and now it turns out his Mac security app, Little Flocker, has gone awol because it’s joining F-Secure. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-337776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}