Amazon scores a major blow to its future developments. As we learn from the official website, Amazon Web Services, division of the Seattle giant dedicated to cloud computing services, has acquired Wickr, a company founded in 2012 whose flagship is the homonymous messaging application. Wickr uses an end-to-end encryption system, which allows for very high levels of communication security.
The platform also provides other particularly important services, such as audio and video calling and file sharing. Amazon has long been engaged in a bitter legal battle with Microsoft over providing cloud infrastructure to the Pentagon. The acquisition of Wickr could allow the company to take steps to comply with the security standards recommended by the National Security Agency for federal agencies. At the moment the economic details of the deal have not been revealed.
Amazon acquires Wickr, the encrypted messaging app
Amazon Web Services Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Stephen Schmidt commented on the deal:
We are excited to share the news of Amazon Web Services' acquisition of Wickr. Wickr is an innovative company that has developed the industry's most secure end-to-end encrypted communication technology. With Wickr, customers and partners benefit from advanced security features not available with traditional communications services, through messaging, voice and video calling, file sharing and collaboration. This gives companies and security-conscious government agencies the ability to implement important security and governance controls to help them meet their compliance requirements.
Today, public sector clients use Wickr for a wide range of missions, from secure communication with office employees to providing encrypted communications to their members. Corporate customers use Wickr to keep communications between employees and business partners private while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements.
Amazon Web Services acquired Wickr
The importance of Wickr's services is highlighted by the acceleration that the pandemic is giving to life in the company, making smart working and hybrid work environments a necessity not only for the future, but also and above all for the present. In fact, it is clear that those who manage to reach efficient and safe forms of communication in the shortest possible time will have a fundamental, probably decisive advantage over their competitors. Aspect that Stephen Schmidt also highlights in his statement:
The need for this type of secure communications is accelerating. With the shift to hybrid work environments, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and government agencies have a growing desire to secure their communications in many remote locations. Wickr's secure communications solutions help businesses and government organizations adapt to this change in their workforce and are a welcome addition to the growing set of collaboration and productivity services that Amazon Web Services offers to customers and partners.
For Wickr users, the future is already the present. As Schmidt himself confirms, the integration between Amazon Web Services and Wickr is already active:
Amazon Web Services offers Wickr's services with immediate effect and Wickr's customers, channel and business partners can continue to use Wickr's services as they do today.
Tagsamazon Amazon acquires Wickr, the encrypted messaging app
