Twitter buys Android security specialist
Twitter has acquired security company Whisper Systems, which specialises in security software for the Android operating system. The company, the brainchild of security expert Moxie Marlinspike, has previously released software such as WhisperMonitor, an Android firewall which can be used to block specific outgoing connections. The company's portfolio also includes FlashBack, RedPhone and TextSecure for encrypting backups, phone calls and text messages.
The company has confirmed that its products "will live on", but that they will have to be temporarily taken offline during the merger. This particularly affects RedPhone users, as the product is being suspended with immediate effect. Users of the FlashBack backup solution will have a month to secure any backups. Whisper Systems undertook extensive changes to the Android kernel in its WhisperCore product, which, among other features, enabled full disk encryption. It is not yet clear what Twitter intends to do with Whisper Systems.
See also:
- Security-enhanced Android controls app access rights, a report from The H.
- WhisperCore brings device-level encryption to Android, a report from The H.
(crve)
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