SafeNet, Inc. was an

information security Information security, sometimes shortened to InfoSec, is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthori ...

company based in Belcamp, Maryland,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, which was acquired in August 2014 by the French security company

Gemalto Gemalto was an international digital security company providing software applications, secure personal devices such as smart cards and tokens, and managed services. It was formed in June 2006 by the merger of two companies, Axalto and Gemplu ...

. Gemalto was, in turn, acquired by

Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris ...

in 2019. The former SafeNet's products include solutions for enterprise authentication, data encryption, and key management. SafeNet's software monetization products are sold under the Thales Sentinel brand. SafeNet was notably one of the largest suppliers of encryption technology to the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

. On 8 August 2014, Gemalto announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of SafeNet from Vector Capital for US$890 million on a debt free/cash free basis. A subsequent acquisition of Gemalto by French rival

was completed on 2 April 2019.

History

* 1983: SafeNet, Inc is founded in 1983 in Timonium, MD as Industrial Resource Engineering by two former NSA engineers, Alan Hastings and technical visionary Douglas Kozlay. * 1986: Anthony A. Caputo becomes a silent investor in the company. * 1987: Anthony Caputo takes the helm of the company as CEO and changes the name to Information Resource Engineering. * 1988: Lawrence Livermore Labs becomes IRE's first major customer. The company moves its operations to White Marsh, MD. * 1989: IRE goes public in an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

initially trading on the OTC pink sheets. * 1989: IRE rapidly becomes the leader in banking communications security with seven of the top ten U.S. banks as customers and encryption devices used by

SWIFT Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT ...

(global interbank transfer system). An end-to-end encryption system was developed that secured data over an X.25 public network, providing the world's first "virtual private network." Early adopters included the Bank of Montreal and Citibank. * 1994: IRE acquires Connective Strategies, Inc., a manufacturer of voice and data ISDN products founded by its CEO, Charles Brown. * October 1995: IRE acquires Swiss crypto manufacturer Gretag Data Systems for $4 million. * 1996: MCI Communications launches the first commercial

VPN A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...

service using SafeNet VPN technology. SafeNet is adopted by thirteen of the top fifteen U.S. banks within two years. * 1997: IRE stock plunges 50% in one day on announcement of the restructuring of the MCI contract. * July 1998: Major shareholder fails in hostile takeover attempt of IRE. * 2000: IRE is renamed to SafeNet, Inc. after the VPN product line. * 2001: Company co-founder Doug Kozlay leaves SafeNet to form Biometric Associates, a technology company focused on biometric-based authentication and identity solutions. * 2002: SafeNet acquires a Dutch company Securealink. With the collapse of the tech "bubble," SafeNet, as a public company with a strong sales channel, was able to acquire a series of promising security companies at deep discounts. * February 2003: SafeNet acquires Cylink and Raqia Networks * October 2003: SafeNet acquires the

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

business of SSH Communications Security * November 2003: SafeNet moves its corporate offices to Belcamp, MD. * March 2004: SafeNet acquires Rainbow Technologies. * December 2004: SafeNet acquires Datakey, Inc * April 2005: SafeNet acquires DMDSecure B.V. * June 2005: SafeNet acquires

MediaSentry MediaSentry was a United States company that provided services to the music recording, motion picture, television, and software industries for locating and identifying IP addresses that are engaged in the use of online networks to share material in ...

* December 2005: SafeNet acquires Eracom Technologies AG * 2006: SafeNet was involved in the

options backdating In finance, options backdating is the practice of altering the date a stock option was granted, to a usually earlier (but sometimes later) date at which the underlying stock price was lower. This is a way of repricing options to make them more ...

controversy. As a result, both the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

and the chief financial officer resigned, and in 2008 the company's former CFO was sentenced to six months in prison for manipulating employee stock options. * April 2007: a Californian equity company Vector Capital buys Safenet for $634 million, making it private * April 2008: SafeNet acquires Ingrian Networks, Inc. * May 2008: SafeNet acquires Beep Science AS * March 2009: SafeNet parent company, Vector Capital acquires

Aladdin Knowledge Systems Aladdin Knowledge Systems (formerly and ) was a company that produced software for digital rights management and Internet security. The company was acquired by Safenet Inc, in 2009. Its corporate headquarters are located in Belcamp, MD. Histor ...

* April 2009: SafeNet sells

to ArtistDirect * December 2009: SafeNet acquires Assured Decisions, LLC * December 2012: SafeNet sells its Government Solutions business unit to Raytheon * August 2014: SafeNet announces it is to be acquired by

by the 4Q 2014'' * February 2015: SafeNet Assured Technologies is launched as a fully owned subsidiary of

to provide high assurance data security products and technologies to U.S. government. * April 2019:

closes the acquisition of

. Thales Cloud Protection and Licensing was formed to serve the global community, and SafeNet Assured Technologies, the entity serving the U.S. government, becomes Thales Trusted Cyber Technologies.

Current and former subsidiaries

The former Rainbow Technologies subsidiary SafeNet Government Solutions, formerly SafeNet Mykotronx, is still based in Torrance, California with offices in Irvine, California and Columbia, Maryland. The company was founded in 1979 as Myko Enterprises. It changed its name to Mykotronx, Inc in 1987 and merged with SafeNet as part of the SafeNet merger with Rainbow in 2004. SafeNet Government Solutions, LLC has been operationally merged into SafeNet and the lines between the two organizations have been intentionally blurred due to financial reasons. SafeNet Government Solutions is no longer considered a subsidiary. SafeNet Government Solutions provides

and communications security technology for the US government. The firm has an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for its

KIV-7 The KIV-7 is a National Security Agency Type-1, single-channel encryptor originally designed in the mid-1990s by AlliedSignal AlliedSignal was an American aerospace, automotive and engineering company created through the 1985 merger of Allied ...

line of

commercial off-the-shelf Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...

cryptographic Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

devices that provide protection for digital and voice communications through

TOP SECRET Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...

, used by agencies such as the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

(NSA) and the

National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. ...

. Other products include the KOV-14 Fortezza Plus PC card which was developed as part of the NSA's NSSI program and is used on

Secure Terminal Equipment Secure Terminal Equipment (STE) is the U.S. government's current (), encrypted telephone communications system for wired or "landline" communications. STE is designed to use ISDN telephone lines which offer higher speeds of up to 128 kbit/s ...

. They previously developed the

Clipper chip The Clipper chip was a chipset that was developed and promoted by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) as an encryption device that secured "voice and data messages" with a built-in backdoor that was intended to "allow Federal, Sta ...

. In 2009, Vector Capital acquires

, and placed it under SafeNet with the annotation of 'under common management'. In 2010, the two companies were officially merged.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://cpl.thalesgroup.com/access-management/safenet-trusted-access
U.S. Subsidiary Website
American companies established in 1983 American companies disestablished in 2014 Software companies established in 1983 Software companies established in 2014 Defunct software companies of the United States Computer security software companies Copyright enforcement companies Cryptography companies Software companies based in Maryland 1983 establishments in Maryland 2014 disestablishments in Maryland 2014 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies