Wickr, a software company for encrypted messaging, has been purchased by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The firm announced the acquisition on Friday but it did not reveal the deal's financial conditions.
Due to the advanced security mechanisms and zero trust platform architecture of Wickr, the company has earned attention among government organizations, businesses, and the public sector. Even the US Department of Defense is among its clients.
Besides, Wickr says that their service meets the US National Security Agency's security standards. It includes end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, text messages, file transfers, and more.
The company boasts to provide verifiable encryption, public source code sharing, multi-factor authentication, secure deletion, limited third-party sharing, and invitation controls.
In a blog post, Stephen Schmidt, AWS Chief Information Security Officer, noted that public sector clients utilize Wickr for a broad variety of tasks. There is secured employee communication and encrypted messaging for service staff among others.
Business clients incorporate Wickr to make employee and partner conversations confidential while staying compliant with regulatory standards.
According to Schmidt, the demand for Wickr's encrypted messaging style is growing throughout industries. AWS views Wickr as a way to strengthen its offerings on communication and productivity.
Schmidt states that the purchase made by Amazon was driven partly by the necessity to maintain cybersecurity for remote working.
He said that with the shift to flexible work settings amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, companies, and government organizations have a higher preference to secure their communication systems.
Schmidt claims that AWS will begin offering Wickr services immediately. But new and existing Wickr users will not notice any major changes. AWS will provide Wickr's services as a result of the deal, but current Wickr partners and customers can continue to use the services as usual.
Wickr released a statement on its website about the acquisition saying that the company is “now part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) team.”
The company is delighted to have developed secure and trustworthy communication systems for texting, audio and video calls, file sharing, and other applications.
Wickr has expanded to service organizations throughout a multitude of sectors worldwide, since its launch 10 years ago. The company is excited to collaborate with AWS to enhance its services for clients and partners.
Wickr's end-to-end communication service, which started in 2012, is among the founders of ephemeral messaging, enabling encrypted and disappearing communications years before WhatsApp and Signal did.
