Goldman sells in-house cyber security software to tech firm

New York

GOLDMAN Sachs Group is selling cyber security software that it developed to a company that specialises in that market in exchange for an equity stake.

LookingGlass Cyber Solutions will buy the Sentinel platform from Goldman Sachs, according to executives at both companies.

The software combines intelligence gathering data on potential threats with investigation of possible breaches, a combination that makes it attractive to other financial institutions, the executives said, declining to provide more details on the terms of the transaction.

Security systems like Sentinel require constant upgrading and maintenance, jobs more suited to a technology company than an investment bank, Andy Ozment, chief information security officer at Goldman Sachs, said in an interview. LookingGlass is better positioned to develop it for other companies to use, he added.

"We've had interest from other financial institutions for Sentinel," Mr Ozment said. "But it's one thing to write software to use yourself and quite another thing to write something that anybody can take and install on their systems."

LookingGlass has close to 300 clients worldwide, with banks and government agencies making up the bulk.

Sentinel is a "phenomenal piece of software" that will be appealing to clients even outside financial services, chief executive officer Chris Coleman said in an interview.

Goldman has a history of selling off technology originally developed for internal use. In 2013, it sold a majority stake in its electronic-trading platform, Redi, to other Wall Street firms to open it up to more brokers and their clients. It sold software that lets employees access sensitive information on mobile devices to Synchronoss Technologies in 2015. BLOOMBERG