McAfee parent Intel has announced that it plans to remove the name of the security company and rename it as “Intel Security”.
Intel, who acquired McAfee in 2010 for a fee of around £5 billion, said at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the new brand will identify Intel products and services in the security segment and retain the red shield logo.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said that the company’s intent is to intensify its efforts “dedicated to making the digital world more secure, and staying ahead of threats to private information on mobile and wearable devices”.
Krzanich also announced that Intel plans to offer elements of McAfee’s mobile security solutions for free. As well as protection for Apple and Android solutions, Intel Security will offer Intel Device Protection technology this year to help Intel-based Android mobile devices meet security standards.
The news of the end of the McAfee brand was met with some scepticism. Security blogger Graham Cluley called the decision “a complete mystery”. He said: “Back in the late 1990s, when McAfee Associates acquired Network General, the firm was rebranded NAI (Network Associates International) – but the rebrand was a failure, and after a few years they reverted to the McAfee name. It’s a complete and utter mystery why Intel would want to get rid of one of the most famous and familiar names in the world of anti-virus.”
Former McAfee senior product engineer, now vice president of security research at Trend Micro, Rik Ferguson, said on Twitter that “selling Intel Security will be more difficult than selling McAfee, same problem they had when they were Network Associates”.
McAfee founder John McAfee, told the BBC that he was overjoyed by the news.
“I am now everlastingly grateful to Intel for freeing me from this terrible association with the worst software on the planet. These are not my words, but the words of millions of irate users,” he said. “My elation at Intel’s decision is beyond words.”
