Computer Associates International Inc has acquired Cybec Pty Ltd, a privately-held Australian developer of anti-virus software. Financial terms were not disclosed. Cybec developed the standalone Vet anti-virus package, a market leader in Australia with around 1m users. CA says the buy will strengthen its own anti-virus resources and boost its position in the Australian and Asian markets. It will continue to offer Vet standalone, but also integrate it into its Unicenter TNG systems management product and InoculateIT anti-virus tools. Cybec was founded in 1973 by Roger Riordan, and wrote Vet in 1989 when the Stoned virus first appeared. In 1991, he discovered a variant of Stoned that had a warhead to overwrite large parts of the hard drive with random garbage from memory. As it was set to trigger on March 6, the birth date of the 16th century artist Michelangelo, Riordan named the virus Michelangelo a year before it became widely-publicised. Riordan will stay on at CA as a consultant.
