Amazon has acquired Wickr, the encrypted messaging app acquired the company announced on Friday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We’re excited to share that AWS has acquired Wickr, an innovative company that has developed the industry’s most secure, end-to-end encrypted, communication technology,” Stephen Schmidt, Amazon Web Services’ vice president.
With a nod to the company’s ever-deepening relationships with the military, and Washington in general, Schmidt added that Wickr’s features give “security-conscious enterprises and government agencies the ability to implement important governance and security controls to help them meet their compliance requirements”.
The move signifies a major shift in the ownership of a popular encrypted messaging service. “Wickr offers a free version that is used by journalists, criminals, and the general public; Wickr also sells various paid products including a platform geared specifically for military communications and another for enterprises.” reports Motherboard, Vice News.
Schmidt indicates the acquisition was partially influenced by the need to preserve information security while working remotely.
“With the move to hybrid work environments, due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, enterprises and government agencies have a growing desire to protect their communications,” he wrote.
Schmidt said AWS would be offering Wickr services effective immediately. Current Wickr users shouldn’t see significant changes for the time being.