‘Cyber-Criminal Behavior’ Expanding With Digitalization: McAfee CEO

McAfee’s closing on the sale of its enterprise business to Symphony Technology Group for $4 billion cash on July 27 began McAfee’s “journey” as a “pure-play consumer cybersecurity company,” said CEO Peter Leav on an earnings call Tuesday for fiscal Q2 ended June 26. McAfee added 556,000 “net new core” direct-to-consumer subscribers, closing the quarter with 19.4 million subs, compared with 16.6 million in Q2 a year earlier. “It's very clear that the behavior for consumers is forever changing,” said Leav. “We've seen that again and again in the digitization of all of our lives, and that's not a one-off,” he said. There’s also “a greater degree of focus from those who are trying to exploit that,” he said. “It's unfortunate, but the world of cyber-criminal behavior continues to expand as well.”