Security vendor McAfee is investigating its past stock-granting practices following questions from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company confirmed Friday.The disclosure comes as the SEC is investigating allegations that a number of companies backdated stock option grants, allowing executives to purchase shares at lower prices. Companies that have engaged in backdating may be fined or charged with back taxes, observers say.McAfee is in “informal” dialogue with the SEC and has “voluntarily initiated the review of our own stock option grant practices” during the late 1990s and the early part of 2000, McAfee said in a statement attributed to the company’s chairman and CEO, George Samenuk.“If in the course of our review should we find anything of note, we will make the appropriate disclosures,” Samenuk said. McAfee is one of 17 companies reported as being at risk for having backdated options in a May 16 report by research firm Center for Financial Research & Analysis (CFRA).Other companies flagged by CFRA include RSA Security, Juniper Networks and Broadcom. -Robert McMillan, IDG News Service For related news coverage, read U.S. Authorities Expand Stock Grants Probe and McAfee’s SiteAdviser: Search Engines Expose Users to Malware, Viruses.Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content BrandPost The future of trust—no more playing catch up Broadcom: 2023 Tech Trends That Transform IT By Eric Chien, Director of Security Response, Symantec Enterprise Division, Broadcom Mar 31, 2023 5 mins Security BrandPost TCS gives Blackhawk Network an edge with Microsoft Cloud In this case study, Blackhawk Network’s Cara Renfroe joins Tata Consultancy Services’ Rakesh Kumar and Microsoft’s Nilendu Pattanaik to explain how TCS transformed the gift card company’s customer engagement and global operati By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Cloud Computing IT Leadership BrandPost How TCS pioneered the ‘borderless workspace’ with Microsoft 365 Microsoft’s modern workplace solution proved a perfect fit for improving productivity and collaboration, while maintaining security of systems and data. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Microsoft Cloud Computing BrandPost Supply chain decarbonization: The missing link to net zero By improving the quality of global supply chain data, enterprises can better measure their true carbon footprint and make progress toward a net-zero business ecosystem. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 2 mins Retail Industry Supply Chain Green IT Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe