In its third purchase this year, Symantec has announced that it will buy a portion of VeriSign that specializes in Internet security technology. The $1.28 billion deal includes VeriSign's secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate services, public key infrastructure (PKI) services, and identity protection and authentication service. Additionally, Symantec will receive a majority stake in VeriSign Japan.
Symantec's latest agreement should be completed in the third quarter, while its $370 million cash purchase of PGP and GuardianEdge is expected to close this quarter. The company's recent buying spree comes at it attempts to expand its portfolio to become a one-stop shop for security.
By making such acquisitions, Symantec says it is "poised to drive the adoption of identity security as the means to provide simple and secure access to anything from anywhere, to prevent identity fraud and to make online experiences much more user-friendly and hassle-free."