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Many items on our blog appear in the next day's paper. Here's one that didn't:
Microsoft Buys Md. Security Firm
Microsoft announced last week that it has acquired a local computer science professor's start-up, Komoku, which develops a product protecting computers against malicious software attacks.
Komoku was founded in 2004 by William Arbaugh of the University of Maryland.
The firm develops protection against "rootkits," malicious software that often goes undetected by computer security programs. Microsoft plans to incorporate the software into its business-oriented line of computer security software.
Steve Brown, director of marketing at Microsoft's Security and Access division, said the company acquired Komoku as much for its people as for its products. Most of the firm's staff will work at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., he said.
"These are some of the very, very best people in the entire world at solving these rootkit challenges," he said.
Rootkits maliciously change a computer's operating system without a user's knowledge and then become hidden. Once obscure, rootkits became more widely known following a scandal in which Sony BMG was found to have included the malicious software on some of its CDs as an anti-piracy measure.
Komoku's clients have included government agencies such as the Homeland Security and Defense departments.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Komoku name and product line will be retired.
Arbaugh did not return a call late Friday afternoon. In a statement released by the university, Arbaugh said, "We at Komoku look forward to continuing the tremendous progress Microsoft has already made in the anti-malware space and building the anti-malware products that can handle today's sophisticated threats."
Before working at the University of Maryland, where he is on a leave of absence, Arbaugh worked for the National Security Agency. He also wrote a book about WiFi security.
-- Mike Musgrove
