Report: Facebook is looking to buy a large cybersecurity firm

According to a report released this weekend, Facebook Inc. apparently seeks to acquire a "big" cybersecurity business.

The Information, quoting "four people familiar with the subject," claimed that the social networking giant had already approached several companies with offers of acquisition.

The report claims that Facebook is trying to buy a cybersecurity company to counter negative information about piracy that could have resulted in the disclosure of more than 50 million users. Which of the companies is not detailed, but the security startups that Facebook could acquire, are not lacking, because it is one of the most fashionable areas of technology at the moment.

The Facebook hack of September, which would affect 29 million users, against 50 million originally, could still give the European company a fine under the general regulation on data protection 2016 / 679. The fine is prone to speculation, but was raised to $ 1.63 billion.

As Engadget noted, the buyout of a security company "could help Facebook strengthen its defenses, improve its expertise and reduce the risk of coding error jeopardizing millions of dollars." # 39; s users. "

At the same time, such an acquisition could be aimed at improving perceptions of the security of society. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook probably has a perception problem with regard to user security and data sharing.

Buying a cybersecurity company to deal with, however, is a strange way to react. Still, with its cash reserves, owning and possibly defending cybersecurity on Facebook would not necessarily be a bad thing.

Despite constant warnings from both consumers and businesses, bad practices, ranging from phishing campaigns to attempts to update servers, are commonplace. Mark Zuckerberg (photo) may not be very good at charisma, but anything that can help improve awareness of the risks of cyber security and combat it must be welcomed in 2018.

Photo: quintanomedia / Flickr