Facebook defends against hackers with PrivateCore purchase

Facebook continues its streak of acquisitions with the purchase of online security firm PrivateCore.

The California-based security company was founded in 2012 by industry veterans from Google and VMware, according to its official site.

Neither Facebook nor PrivateCore disclosed financial details concerning the deal, but Facebook said it will use the company's tech to help secure its servers and protect them from malware, hackers and more.

And just in time, too, as researchers this week revealed one of the biggest online data heists in history, with 1.2 billion credentials stolen by a single Russian hacker ring.

Trust in breach

As data breaches like that and 2013's massive Target hack show, security needs to be a big priority for major tech companies.

"Facebook and PrivateCore have an aligned mission," PrivateCore CEO Oded Horovitz wrote on his company's site. "Facebook has done more than any company to connect the world, and we want to use our secure server technology to help make the world's connections more secure."

He said Facebook will eventually implement PrivateCore's tech to protect Facebook users.

"Working together with Facebook, there is a huge opportunity to pursue our joint vision at scale with incredible impact," he added.

Facebook's shopping spree has also included companies ranging from messaging service WhatsApp to virtual reality pioneers Oculus VR.

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