In a deal that may bring it more financial services customers, the Internet security giant Symantec Corp. is buying WholeSecurity Inc., whose software attacks viruses from a different slant.
Symantec, of Cupertino, Calif., is well known among consumers and corporate IT workers for its strong anti-virus products, many of them marketed under the Norton brand.
When a virus starts to spread on the Internet, Symantec creates a "signature" - a description its customers can download so their computers can spot and stop the malicious software. But this strategy is more effective against widespread threats than against viruses written to prey on customers of a specific financial company.
WholeSecurity, of Austin, takes a different tack. Its anti-virus software does not rely on signatures. It looks for potentially harmful active routines on a user's computer - for instance programs that log keystrokes, mouse clicks, and screen images - and users need not constantly update their virus protection software.
J.T. Keating, WholeSecurity's vice president of marketing, said many viruses meant to assault banking Web sites "are so targeted that they don't even have signatures - they're not high enough on the radar."
Enrique Salem, a senior vice president with Symantec, said it was looking for a way to combat these threats, and "we needed to do it in a way where it doesn't require signatures or updates."
The deal was announced Thursday and is expected to close in October. The price was not revealed.
Jerry Silva is the service director for the retail banking and delivery channel practices at MasterCard's TowerGroup Inc. in Needham, Mass. He said WholeSecurity's product "is dead-on in terms of the kinds of attacks financial services are seeing."
Several financial companies use WholeSecurity's software, including Ameritrade Holding Corp., which distributes it to its own customers. But Mr. Keating said WholeSecurity had found it hard to sell to other large services companies.
"Symantec is a safer company than buying from a startup in Austin," he said.
Mr. Salem said Symantec also hopes to offer the WholeSecurity software directly to consumers.
Avivah Litan, a vice president and research director at the Stamford, Conn., market research company Gartner Inc., said the deal would give Symantec a way to reach bank customers.
"The banks are the major target for this acquisition," she said. "They want to get to the banks, and get to the consumers through the banks."
Jacob Jegher of Celent Communications LLC said that many consumers do not know how to protect their computers, and that banks cannot do so for all of their customers.
"At the end of the day, it's not the financial institution's responsibility to make sure their end users' desktops are secure," said Mr. Jegher, a senior analyst for the Boston market research firm.
But the WholeSecurity software can help, he said, Symantec's clout might attract more financial companies to it. "If Symantec can take some of their power in the market and, with this acquisition, influence the way security decisions are made in the bank, that would be interesting," Mr. Jegher said.
