Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud services subsidiary, announced the acquisition of encrypted messaging service Wickr on Friday — reports TechCrunch.
Wickr has been around for around a decade. Priding itself in its unmatched security, Wickr has carved out a niche for itself in providing services to the government and military sector.
The messaging service even claims to be the only “collaboration service” that meets security criteria established by the NSA.
AWS plans on operating Wickr as is, extending the app’s services to AWS customers “effective immediately”, noted Stephen Schmidt, VP and CISO for AWS, in a blog post announcing the acquisition.
Amazon has been pretty tight-lipped about how big a cheque it had to cut. Wickr had raised a little under $60 million USD in funding, but with AWS posting revenues of $13.5 billion USD last quarter (up 32% from last year) with a net income of $8.1 billion USD, the cloud services giant is in a position to make some big acquisitions right now.
With privacy starting to cement itself as a cornerstone of digital services, the opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time for Amazon. From expanding Wickr’s services to businesses to creating a consumer app atop Wickr’s existing infrastructure, there are a number of different directions AWS could take its newest asset in.
Stephen Schmidt also had the following to say about the acquisition:
“The need for this type of secure communications is accelerating. With the move to hybrid work environments, due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, enterprises and government agencies have a growing desire to protect their communications across many remote locations. Wickr’s secure communications solutions help enterprises and government organizations adapt to this change in their workforces and is a welcome addition to the growing set of collaboration and productivity services that AWS offers customers and partners.”
“Together with AWS, we look forward to taking our solutions to the next level for our customers and partners,” noted Wickr on its website.
