RSA (security Firm) - History

History

Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman developed the RSA encryption algorithm in 1977. They founded RSA Data Security in 1982.

• In 1995 RSA sent a handful of people across the hall to found Digital Certificates International, better known as VeriSign.
• The company then called Security Dynamics acquired RSA Data Security in July 1996 and DynaSoft AB in 1997.
• In January 1997 it proposed the first of the DES Challenges which led to the first public breaking of a message based on the Data Encryption Standard.
• In February 2001, it acquired Xcert International, Inc., a privately held company that developed and delivered digital certificate-based products for securing e-business transactions.
• In May 2001, it acquired 3-G International, Inc., a privately held company that developed and delivered smart card and biometric authentication products.
• In August 2001, it acquired Securant Technologies, Inc., a privately held company that produced ClearTrust, an identity management product.
• In December 2005, it acquired Cyota, a privately held Israeli company specializing in online security and anti-fraud solutions for financial institutions.
• In April 2006 it acquired PassMark Security.
• On September 14, 2006, RSA stockholders approved the acquisition of the company by EMC Corporation for $2.1 billion.
• On 2007 RSA acquired Valyd Software, a Hyderabad based Indian company specializing in File and Data Security .
• In 2009 RSA launched the RSA Share Project. As part of this project, some of the RSA BSAFE libraries were made available for free. To promote the launch, RSA ran a programming competition with a US$10,000 first prize.
• RSA introduced a new CyberCrime Intelligence Service designed to help organisations identify computers, information assets and identities compromised by trojans and other online attacks.