DNSFilter acquires iOS firewall app Guardian to expand its web-based threat detection tech
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/10/dnsfilter-guardian-ios-firewall/
DNSFilter, a Washington, D.C.-based provider of DNS-based web content filtering and threat protection, has announced it’s acquiring Guardian, a privacy-protecting firewall for iOS. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Guardian was founded in 2013 by Will Strafach, a security researcher and former iPhone jailbreaker who in 2017 discovered that AccuWeather was secretly sending precise location data to a third-party company without a user’s permission. The company’s “smart firewall” iPhone app blocks apps from sharing users’ personal information with third-parties, such as IP addresses and location data, by funneling data through an encrypted virtual private network (VPN). The startup, which claims to have so far blocked more than 5 billion data trackers and 1 billion location trackers, recently joined forces with Brave to integrate its firewall and VPN functionality into its eponymous non-tracking browser.