Intel has acquired the privately held company PasswordBox,
effective immediately, in an effort to shore up its digital
security as consumers become increasingly concerned in light of
high-profile breaches.
PasswordBox, founded in 2012 and formerly based in Montreal,
Canada, helps people use any device to log into all passwords
without typing. It had been downloaded by 14 million people and
received venture funding from OMERS Ventures. PasswordBox will
become part of Intel Security Group's Safe Identity organization,
which was established this January. Intel will integrate
PasswordBox's form-filling technology with its own authentication
technologies.
Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed and Intel said they
aren't material to its operations.
Cybersecurity and data breaches have become high-profile
concerns for businesses and consumers alike. A recent report from
Deloitte said that more than 90% of user-generated passwords are
vulnerable to hacking. Last year, Experian PLC found that the
average user used only five different passwords for 26
accounts.
Last year, Target Corp. was the victim of a massive data breach
that affected 70 million people. Just recently, Home Depot Inc.
said that it is facing at least 44 civil lawsuits related to an
April data breach that compromised 56 million credit-card accounts
and about 53 million email addresses.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@dowjones.com
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