Verisign's security business is for sale: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Verisign Inc (VRSN.O) recently approached some companies to see if they want to buy its security business, which helps online merchants encrypt payment card data, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the effort.

Potential buyers would include CA Technologies (CA.O), Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O), EMC Corp (EMC.N), McAfee Inc MFE.N, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Symantec Corp (SYMC.O), according to Jefferies & Co analyst Katherine Egbert.

Sale of the unit would leave Verisign in one main business -- managing more than 100 million Internet domain names, including ones ending in .com and .net. Over the past three years it has sold off or shut down nearly 20 unrelated business units to focus on its high-margin Internet domain business.

"The next step might be to sell the rest of the company," Egbert said. "Why not go all the way? Is this a natural progression?"

While it was not immediately clear exactly which assets Verisign was bundling for sale, its non-Internet domain businesses accounted for about $410 million of its $1 billion in last year's total sales.

Verisign's security business is best known for its secure socket layer, or SSL technology, which encrypts financial transactions over the Internet. A certificate on a website's server authenticates the identity of that site to the user, then sets up a scrambled connection to prevent outsiders from stealing sensitive data.

Shares of Verisign rallied on Tuesday on news that the company's chief financial officer, Brian Robins, unexpectedly canceled plans to speak at a JPMorgan investment conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Verisign spokesman Brad Williams said that Robins had a last-minute schedule change but declined to elaborate. When asked if Robins was working to sell the company or its security business, Williams declined comment.

Verisign shares rose 90 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $27.74 in afternoon Nasdaq trade. Options activity in Verisign also surged, with some 33,000 call options traded, or more than 15 times the average daily turnover.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle, additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Steve Orlofsky)