Avast Plc said on Thursday it will be closing its Jumpshot data analytics business and that hundreds of jobs would be affected, a day after the cybersecurity company began a review following reports of data privacy concerns.
Avast allegedly collected data on what many of its users did online and sent it to its unit, which then offered to sell the information to clients, according to the media reports earlier this week. Avast has denied the allegations.
Jumpshot, which Avast started in 2015, and the company acted “fully within legal bounds” in the years since then, Avast Chief Executive Officer Ondrej Vlcek said in a blog post https://blog.avast.com/a-message-from-ceo-ondrej-vlcek shortly after its trading update on Thursday.
Vlcek said the decision to close Jumpshot would affect “hundreds” of employees and was taken after a review that the company did not want continue with the data collection business as it did not fit into its priorities in 2020 and beyond.
“Protecting people is Avast’s top priority and must be embedded in everything we do in our business and in our products. Anything to the contrary is unacceptable,” he said.
The decision will not affect its fiscal 2019 results, the company said, while forecasting mid-single digit growth in organic revenue for the current year, excluding Jumpshot.
(Content and photos syndicated via Reuters)
