NortonLifelock merging with Avast — what does this mean for you?

NortonLifelock merging with Avast — what does this hateful for you?

The Avast and Norton 360 app icons side by side on a Google Pixel smartphone.

(Image credit: Tada Images/Shutterstock)

Terminal week U.S.-based NortonLifeLock, the earth'south biggest antivirus company past market share, appear that it was intending to merge with Czech republic-based Avast, the world's 2nd-largest antivirus company, awaiting shareholder and regulatory approval. The combined company would take a whopping 25% of the global Windows antivirus market.

This news came eight months after NortonLifeLock bought Germany-based Avira , and five years later Avast gobbled up its Czech rival AVG. A calendar month after the Avira deal closed in Jan of this year, Avira itself absorbed London-based antivirus maker Bullguard.

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If this latest deal goes through, Norton, which itself bought identity-theft-protection manufacture leader LifeLock in 2017, volition go the Full general Motors of the consumer antivirus industry.

The movement could accept a direct impact on consumers. Avast, AVG and Avira are all known for undecayed, free antivirus software, while Norton has no costless antivirus offerings and charges some of the highest prices in the industry.

And then what does all this rapid consolidation mean for the costless antivirus industry?

Don't fix what own't broke

If Avira's current situation is whatever guide, the intended merger may not change much for the short term. Norton seems to take left Avira pretty much lone since its conquering, with Avira retaining its own software, marketing and even PR squad.

In that location's almost no indication on the Avira website that Norton now owns it, and the companies still use dissever malware-detection engines, as indicated by their differing lab-test scores.

Likewise, Avast has retained AVG's branding and marketing five years subsequently those ii companies merged, along with dissever product lines. Avast's statement has always been that AVG was strong in regions where Avast was weak, and vice versa, so information technology made sense to combine them equally separate brands.

Current Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek echoed similar themes in the Norton merger announcement, stressing the "greater geographic diversification" that the "well-established" brands would deliver.

Simply nether the surface, the Avast and AVG malware-detection engines were combined — for the improve, co-ordinate to tertiary-party lab tests — and dorsum-office redundancies were eliminated.

We have to expect similar consolidation and streamlining will accept place within the new Avast-AVG-Avira-BullGuard-NortonLifeLock behemoth.

I thing nosotros won't see is the terminate of free antivirus software. In some form or other, Avast, AVG and Avira will still continue to offer it, although i or two of the brands may be "retired" similar old car models.

Different its rivals Kaspersky and Bitdefender, Norton has never offered free AV software, and so this deal and the Avira one before information technology close that gap.

The looming specter of Microsoft

The bigger issue looming on the horizon is how long the status quo in the antivirus industry can terminal. The Microsoft Defender antivirus software built into Windows used to exist an embarrassing joke, just in the past few years it's fabricated a remarkable turnaround and is now one of the best antivirus programs in the industry.

Microsoft Defender nonetheless has a few shortfalls — it doesn't fairly protect web browsers that aren't fabricated by Microsoft, for example — just you lot can now legitimately say that it'due south all the antivirus software you need, every bit long equally you lot don't require extra features like parental-command software or a countersign managing director.

So where does this leave the third-party antivirus providers? Why would yous pay for one if you can get what you need for free from Microsoft?

Consumers don't yet seem to be asking themselves these questions. The antivirus market is booming, and 82% of U.Southward. households reported using antivirus software in a recent survey.

Only nigh of the bigger brands have been rapidly adding extra features to their software, such as parental-command software and countersign managers, that Microsoft Antivirus doesn't immediately provide.

Norton has gone further than whatever other antivirus provider in this regard, with its pricier plans also including backup software, online storage, unlimited VPN service and full identity-theft protection. It has already positioned itself as the i-stop shop for all your security and privacy needs.

With its conquering of Avast, and the huge market share that will effect, Norton may exist trying to majority itself upwards against a possible industry decimation and brand itself, well, likewise big to fail. With five well-known brands under its belt, it'south certainly going to be difficult to avert.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has likewise been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-booty commuter, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random Television receiver news spots and even moderated a panel give-and-take at the CEDIA dwelling-technology briefing. You lot tin can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.