SonicWall

SonicWall, originally a private company headquartered in Silicon Valley, and a Dell subsidiary from 2012 to 2016, sells a range of Internet appliances primarily directed at content control and network security. These include devices providing services for network firewalls, unified threat management (UTM), virtual private networks (VPNs), and anti-spam for email. The company also markets information subscription services related to their products.[2] The company solutions also serve to solve problems surrounding compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).[3]

SonicWall Inc
Typeprivate company
IndustryNetwork security, security appliances, Internet security, WAN optimization
Founded1991
HeadquartersMilpitas, California
Key people
Bill Conner (CEO)
ProductsNext-generation firewall; UTM; firewalls; VPN; wireless security; security appliance filtering spam, spyware, viruses and other malware
RevenueUS$265 million (2011)[1]
OwnerFrancisco Partners and Elliott Management
Number of employees
1600 (April 2020)[1]
Websitewww.sonicwall.com

On March 13, 2012, USA Today said that Dell had announced its intent to acquire SonicWall, which then had 130 patents and 950 employees. Dell's acquisition of SonicWall became official on May 9, 2012.[4][5]

On June 20, 2016, Dell sold SonicWall (part of its Dell Software) to private equity firm Francisco Partners and Elliott Management.[6]

History

In 1991, Brothers Sreekanth Ravi and Sudhakar Ravi founded the company under the name Sonic Systems to develop Ethernet and Fast Ethernet cards, hubs and bridges for the Apple market.[2][7]

In the late 1990s, the company released a security product initially called Interpol and later branded SonicWALL, a dedicated hardware appliance with firewall and VPN software intended for the small-business market. As sales for the security appliances rapidly accelerated, the company exited the Apple add-on networking business and refocused exclusively as a network security company.[7]

In late 1999, the company changed its name from Sonic Systems to SonicWALL, Inc. to represent the shift to a network security company, and in November 1999 SonicWall went public with the symbol SNWL.[8]

In 2001, SonicWall upgraded its Global Management System (GMS) software to manage more VPN devices.[9]

Matthew T. Medeiros (formerly of Philips Components) became CEO in March 2003.[10] SonicWall acquired a number of companies through the years, expanding its product line in the process.[11]

In 2005, SonicWall announced the acquisition of enKoo.[12]

In 2007, SonicWall announced the acquisition of Aventail Corporation.[13]

On July 23, 2010, SonicWall announced that it had completed its merger with affiliates of an investor group led by Thoma Bravo, LLC, which included the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan through its private investor department, Teachers' Private Capital.[14] After the merger SonicWall was delisted from NASDAQ.

On March 13, 2012, Dell announced that they had signed a definitive agreement to acquire SonicWall.[15]

On May 20, 2016, Dell announced the sale of Dell Software, which included SonicWall, to private equity firm Francisco Partners and Elliott Management.[6]

On January 22, 2021, SonicWall said it was attacked by "highly sophisticated threat actors," in a potential Zero-day (computing) attack on certain SonicWall secure remote access products.[16][17][18] On January 25, 2021, former lulzsec hacker Darren Martyn announced exploits against old VPN vulnerabilities.[19] These exploits and the January 2021 attack were unrelated; SonicWall confirmed that the Martyn exploits were patched in 2015.[20]

  1. sec.gov
  2. "SNWL: Profile for SonicWALL, Inc". Yahoo!. 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  3. "SonicWall PCI Compliance Case Study" (PDF). SonicWall. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  4. USA Today, page B1, published March 14, 2008, "Dell buys security specialist SonicWall"
  5. "Dell completes acquisition SonicWall". Businesswire.com. May 9, 2012.
  6. "Francisco Partners and Elliott Management to Acquire the Dell Software Group". www.sonicwall.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-23.
  7. "Corporate Information". SonicWall. 1999. Archived from the original on 1999-05-04. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  8. "SonicWall IPO Should Make Noise". Ecommerce Times. 1999. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  9. Greene, Tim (2001-07-30). "SonicWall boosts VPN software". Network World. 18 (31). IDG Network World Inc. p. 8. ISSN 0887-7661. Retrieved 2015-02-03. Global Management System (GMS) 2.0 lets users manage up to 10,000 pieces of SonicWall VPN hardware, a tenfold increase [...].
  10. "SonicWall Company Officers — Reuters". Reuters. 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  11. "News Archive Search of "SonicWall acquisition" including frequency chart". Google. 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  12. "Analysis of SonicWall's acquisition of enKoo".
  13. "SonicWall, Inc. to Acquire Aventail Corporation". PR Newswire. 2007. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  14. "SonicWALL Completes Merger With Thoma Bravo and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan". www.otpp.com. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  15. Worthen, Ben; Sherr, Ian (2012-03-13). "Dell to Buy IT-Security Company SonicWall — WSJ.com". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  16. https://www.zdnet.com/article/sonicwall-says-it-was-hacked-using-zero-days-in-its-own-products/
  17. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-23/cyber-firm-sonicwall-says-it-was-victim-of-sophisticated-hack
  18. "Security Notice: Update on SMA 100 Series Product Investigation". SonicWall. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  19. "Former LulzSec Hacker Releases VPN Exploit Used to Hack Hacking Team". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  20. "Twitter: SonicWall Confirms Patch for 2015 Vulnerability". Twitter.com. 26 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
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