HP Inc has announced the acquisition of endpoint security provider Bromium, which will be integrated into its existing security platform and hardware.
The acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, follows a partnership of some two and a half years – Bromium and HP have been working together since early 2017, with Bromium’s technology being licensed by HP as the basis for its Sure Click malware protection.
That partnership was stepped up in March of this year, when HP Sure Click Advanced was launched as ‘the enterprise-ready extension’ of Sure Click, coming pre-installed on certain HP PCs and forming part of HP’s Device-as-a-Service offering.
“Security is a key competitive differentiator for HP, providing the most secure PCs and printers on the market,” said Andy Rhodes, GM and Global Head of Commercial Systems at HP.
“The acquisition of Bromium extends our investments, leadership and focus in this space and securing end point devices that are on the front lines of defense against cyber security attacks.”
Bromium’s technology operates by using virtualisation to isolate user tasks (such as downloads, links and web browsing) within single-use, hardware-enforced micro-VMs, which are checked for unexpected behaviour that could indicate malware, and discarded once the task is complete.
For HP Inc, the ‘hardware-enforced’ aspect of that is likely one of the key attractions. HP has been emphasising security as a selling point of its devices (particularly those aimed at business use) for some time, and the ability to integrate Bromium’s technology into its hardware on a permanent basis rather than simply licensing would seem to tie in well with that strategy.
