DNSFilter acquires iOS firewall app Guardian to expand its web-based threat detection tech

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).

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