SonicWall

Last updated
SonicWall Inc
Company type Private
Industry Network security, security appliances, Internet security, WAN optimization
FoundedAugust 1991
Headquarters Milpitas, California
Key people
  • Bob VanKirk (President & CEO)
  • Bill Conner (Executive Chairman of the Board)
Products Next-generation firewall; UTM; firewalls; virtual firewall; VPN; wireless security; SD-WAN; zero-trust security; security appliance filtering spam, spyware, viruses and other malware
Owner Francisco Partners and Elliott Management
Number of employees
1600 (April 2020) [1]
Website www.sonicwall.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

SonicWall is an American cybersecurity company that 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), virtual firewalls, SD-WAN, cloud security and anti-spam for email. The company also markets information subscription services related to its products. [2] The company also assists in solving problems surrounding compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). [3]

Originally a private company headquartered in Silicon Valley, it went public in 1999, before delisting in 2010. On March 13, 2012, USA Today said that Dell had announced its intent to acquire SonicWall, which then had 130 patents and 950 employees. [4] Dell's acquisition of SonicWall became official on May 9, 2012. [5] [6]

On June 20, 2016, Dell sold SonicWall (part of its Dell Software division) to private equity firms Francisco Partners and Elliott Management. [7]

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] [8]

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 security appliances rapidly accelerated, the company exited the Apple add-on networking business and refocused exclusively as a network security company. [8]

In late 1999, the company changed its name from Sonic Systems to SonicWALL, Inc. to represent the shift to network security, and in November 1999 SonicWall went public on the Nasdaq with the symbol SNWL. [9]

In 2001, SonicWall upgraded its Global Management System (GMS) software to manage more VPN devices. [10]

Matthew T. Medeiros (formerly of Philips Components) became CEO in March 2003. [11] SonicWall has acquired several companies during its existence, often expanding its product line in the process. [12] In 2005, SonicWall acquired enKoo [13] and Lasso Logic, [14] and in 2007 acquired Aventail Corporation. [15]

On July 23, 2010, SonicWall 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. [16] After the merger, SonicWall was delisted from NASDAQ.

On March 13, 2012, Dell signed a definitive agreement to acquire SonicWall. [17]

On May 20, 2016, Dell sold Dell Software, which included SonicWall, to private equity firms Francisco Partners and Elliott Management. [7]

In March 2021, the SonicWall SecureFirst partner program received a five-star rating in the 2021 CRN Partner Program Guide. [18]

On January 22, 2021, SonicWall said it was attacked by "highly sophisticated threat actors" in a potential zero-day attack on certain SonicWall secure remote access products. [19] [20] [21] On January 25, former lulzsec hacker Darren Martyn announced exploits against old VPN vulnerabilities. [22] These exploits and the January 2021 attack were unrelated; SonicWall confirmed that the Martyn exploits were patched in 2015. [23]

On January 7, 2022, SonicWall said that some of its email security and firewall products were hit by the Y2k22 bug, [24] and released patches after a few days. [25]

On July 21, 2022, former president and CEO Bill Conner took on the role of Executive Chairman of the Board. Former SonicWall Chief Revenue Officer Bob VanKirk was named president and CEO. [26]

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References

  1. ↑ SEC – SONICWALL INC (FORM 10-K)
  2. 1 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. ↑ Perez, Sarah (2012-03-13). "As Dell Shifts To Software & Services, Announces Plans To Buy SonicWall". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  5. ↑ USA Today , page B1, published March 14, 2008, "Dell buys security specialist SonicWall"
  6. ↑ "Dell completes acquisition SonicWall". Businesswire.com. May 9, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Francisco Partners and Elliott Management to Acquire the Dell Software Group". www.sonicwall.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-23.
  8. 1 2 "Corporate Information". SonicWall. 1999. Archived from the original on 1999-05-04. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  9. ↑ "SonicWall IPO Should Make Noise". Ecommerce Times. 1999. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  10. ↑ Greene, Tim (30 July 2001). "SonicWall boosts VPN software". Network World. Vol. 18, no. 31. IDG Network World Inc (published 2001-07-30). 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 [...].
  11. ↑ "SonicWall Company Officers — Reuters". Reuters. 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  12. ↑ "News Archive Search of "SonicWall acquisition" including frequency chart". 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  13. ↑ "Analysis of SonicWall's acquisition of enKoo". 29 November 2005.
  14. ↑ Shread, Paul (21 November 2005). "SonicWALL Corrals Lasso Logic". Enterprise Storage Forum. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  15. ↑ "SonicWall, Inc. to Acquire Aventail Corporation". PR Newswire. 2007. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  16. ↑ "SonicWALL Completes Merger With Thoma Bravo and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan". www.otpp.com. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  17. ↑ Worthen, Ben; Sherr, Ian (2012-03-13). "Dell to Buy IT-Security Company SonicWall — WSJ.com". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  18. ↑ "2021 Partner Program Guide Details". CRN. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  19. ↑ "SonicWall says it was hacked using zero-days in its own products". ZDNet .
  20. ↑ "SonicWall Says It Was Victim of 'Sophisticated' Hack". Bloomberg.com. 23 January 2021.
  21. ↑ "Security Notice: Update on SMA 100 Series Product Investigation". SonicWall. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  22. ↑ "Former LulzSec Hacker Releases VPN Exploit Used to Hack Hacking Team". www.vice.com. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  23. ↑ "Twitter: SonicWall Confirms Patch for 2015 Vulnerability". Twitter.com. 26 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  24. ↑ "SonicWall: Y2K22 bug hits Email Security, firewall products". BleepingComputer. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  25. ↑ Harsh (2022-01-10). "SonicWall Releases Patches for Critical Y2K22 Bug". Firewall Authority. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  26. ↑ "SonicWall Accelerates Next Phase of Growth While Continuing to Drive Record Performance". SonicWall. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
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