Finnish security company F-Secure announced the acquisition of the Mac security app Little Flocker created by iOS security researcher and former jailbreak developer Jonathan Zdziarski. As we told you, Zdziarski joined Apple’s Security Engineering and Architecture team last month.
Little Flocker offers protection against ransomware, spyware, malware, trojans, back doors, misbehaving applications and other threats to private data stored on your Mac.
Little Flocker uses advanced behavioral-based analysis to monitor apps attempting to access confidential files and system resources. It also detects and blocks ransomware.
F-Secure has said that it will build Little Flocker’s security engine into its new XFENCE technology, which will complement the company’s existing solutions to provide advanced behavioral Mac protection for both corporate and consumer customers.
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They will also enhance Little Flocker’s core technology with F-Secure’s security cloud, and implement it into its corporate-oriented security solutions.
The company wrote:
The myth of Macs not requiring protection against ransomware, backdoors and other software vulnerabilities is fading away. Advanced persistent threat actors are increasingly focusing on Macs due to Apple’s popularity among senior-level employees and other high-value targets.
The acquisition will bolster F-Secure’s ability to enhance detection of zero-day attacks.
Little Focker’s technology will be later available to consumers as part of F-Secure SAFE, a multi-device security offering. As for F-Secure’s XFENCE, shown on the screenshot above, it will be available as a free technology beta at campaigns.f-secure.com/xfence.
At the time of this writing, the official Little Flocker website was undergoing maintenance following the acquisition news. Known as “NerveGas” within the jailbreaking community, Zdziarski used to be part of the iPhone Dev Team and Chronic Dev Team.
Source: F-Secure