Amazon's AWS buys message encrypting service Wickr

[June 26, 2021]    (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's cloud computing unit has bought encrypted messaging platform Wickr to enable secure communication as employees largely work from home, the company said on Friday.

The logo of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seen during the 4th annual America Digital Latin American Congress of Business and Technology in Santiago, Chile, September 5, 2018. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photo

Wickr, a startup founded by privacy advocates, offers to help develop self-destructing messaging technology for financial services firms and gaming companies.

The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Companies moving to hybrid work environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic are increasingly focusing on protecting their communication with business partners across remote locations.

"The need for this type of secure communications is accelerating," said Stephen Schmidt, chief information security officer at Amazon Web Services.

Amazon has also been striving to bag cloud contracts from government agencies and has been in a prolonged battle with Microsoft Corp after it lost a multi-billion-dollar Pentagon deal.

Schmidt said Wickr would give security-conscious enterprises and government agencies the ability to implement security controls, helping them meet their compliance requirements.

AWS is offering Wickr services effective immediately and Wickr customers, channel, and business partners can continue to use its services, he said.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)

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