PRESS: Kasperskaya sells German unit EgoSecure after media attacks

MOSCOW, Jun 15 (PRIME) -- Natalya Kasperskaya’s holding InfoWatch has sold a controlling stake in German unit EgoSecure, a designer of information protection software, to office software producer Matrix42 for an undisclosed sum amid mass media attacks linking the businesswoman to the Russian government, business daily Vedomosti reported on Friday.

Anti-cybercrime company Group-IB’s founder Ilya Sachkov valued the deal at over 30 million euros, or several times more than the subsidiary’s annual revenue.

According to its website, EgoSecure has about 2,000 individual and corporate clients in Europe and an InfoWatch spokesperson said that its revenue rises by more than 10% per year and rocketed over 50% in January–March.

InfoWatch acquired the stake in EgoSecure in 2011. Its size has never been mentioned, but it was above 50%. German daily Berliner Morgenpost in February 2016 put it at 60%. Later InfoWatch obtained exclusive rights for all products, developments, patents and trademarks of its German subsidiary.

In 2015–2016, Morgenpost and Die Welt, while reporting on the use by the local police of EgoSecure’s products, said that InfoWatch and Kasperskaya, were allegedly linked to the Russian authorities, the Kremlin and the Federal Security Service.

Kasperskaya denied any liaison and called the publications media attacks, because of which EgoSecure lost several clients. Matrix42 made a good offer, she said.

Alexander Lyamin, head of Qrator, which counters QQoS attacks, said media attacks are not a good reason for an IT firm to abandon stable work in Europe, while EgoSecure is an old participant of the market with a solid reputation.

Kasperskaya said that InfoWatch is going to focus on the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where the company has been working for more than five years.

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