SocialShield Acquired By German Security Company Avira

Avira, a security company headquartered in Germany, just announced that it has acquired social monitoring startup SocialShield and will be adding the service to its lineup of free security products.

“Avira is broadening our security focus from safe-guarding computers to now protecting the people who use them, and that requires us to look beyond viruses and worms and Trojans,” Avira Products and Markets COO Sascha Beyer says in the press release. “The acquisition of SocialShield not only brings child safety technology into Avira’s portfolio, but it also enhances our knowledge of social networking security and our awareness of the risks within the ‘cloud.'”

SocialShield launched in 2010, promising to help parents protect their children from risks on social networks. For example, it offered “friend verification technology” to check a child’s Facebook and Myspace friends against 50 Internet databases. The company was founded by Noah Kindler and Arad Rostampour, and George Garrick (former CEO of Offerpal and many other companies) took over as CEO last year.

The company’s investors include Venrock, U.S. Venture Partners, Russell Fradin, Larry Braitman, George Garrick, Craig Sherman and Rick Thompson. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.