Security researcher Troy Hunt does not sell Have I Been Pwned. He continues to maintain the data search engine himself. Last year Hunt went looking for a buyer because it took him a lot of time. There was almost a deal, but it was canceled at the last minute.
Last year in June, Hunt announced that he was looking for a buyer for the service. That search is now definitively off the job. Hunt says that Have I Been Pwned remains independent and that he continues to work on it independently. He does say that he needs help with this and that he will delegate work.
In an extensive blog, Hunt describes how the acquisition process went over the past few months. The security investigator took KPMG for this. There were countless companies that were interested, 141 were left after an initial selection. This involved, among other things, major tech, antivirus and hosting companies. There was also interest from financial institutions and insurance companies.
Hunt’s goal was to sell the service to a company he fully trusted and shared the vision of. After a new selection, 43 potential candidates remained. Those parties received an extensive Information Merorandum with information about the service, after which they could make a bid.
In the end, only one party remained that got exclusivity in the acquisition process. That happened last year in September. According to Hunt, the deal from both parties was practically complete, but due to a sudden “change in the business model” of the interested party, both parties decided to cancel the deal. Due to confidentiality agreements, Hunt is not allowed to say which company it is and how high the bid was.
Have I Been Pwned has been around since 2013. Security researcher Troy Hunt collects data from large data breaches there, so that users can see if they have been affected. Users can sign up to receive a notification as soon as their data appears in a data breach. Millions of people use it. 1Password and Mozilla have integration with the service in their software.
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Part of the document that potential buyers received
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