RSA For Sale, Talks Under Way

RSA Security on Thursday confirmed that it's in negotiations for a "potential strategic transaction" but said that no deal has been finalized.

"RSA Security is currently engaged in negotiations with parties regarding a potential strategic transaction," according to a statement issued by RSA, a Bedford, Mass.-based security and encryption vendor. "No definitive agreement has been reached. There can be no assurance that any agreement will be reached or that a transaction will be consummated."

The statement came in response to a New York Times report that said RSA is for sale and close to a deal, possibly valued at more that $1.8 billion, with storage giant EMC, Hopkinton, Mass., or at least one other bidder.

RSA didn't name the companies it's in negotiations with and said no further announcement would come until its board approves a specific transaction and a definitive agreement is reached.

A call to EMC seeking comment wasn't immediately returned.Should a deal between EMC and RSA be reached, it would be the third large-scale union between a storage vendor and a security company over the past year. Symantec completed its merger with Veritas Software in July, and Network Appliance finalized its acquisition of encryption vendor Decru in August.