<s>
ShareThis	B-Protocol
is	O
a	O
technology	O
company	O
headquartered	O
in	O
Palo	O
Alto	O
,	O
CA	O
,	O
with	O
offices	O
in	O
New	O
York	O
,	O
Chicago	O
,	O
and	O
Los	O
Angeles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ShareThis	B-Protocol
collects	O
data	O
on	O
user	O
behavior	O
,	O
and	O
provides	O
this	O
to	O
advertisers	O
and	O
technology	O
companies	O
for	O
ad	O
targeting	O
,	O
analytics	O
,	O
and	O
customer	O
acquisition	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ShareThis	B-Protocol
has	O
an	O
exclusive	O
license	O
with	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Illinois	O
for	O
patent	O
applications	O
made	O
by	O
co-founder	O
David	O
E	O
.	O
Goldberg	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
patents	O
include	O
genetic	B-Algorithm
algorithms	I-Algorithm
and	O
machine	O
learning	O
technologies	O
used	O
for	O
the	O
purposes	O
of	O
information	O
collection	O
and	O
discovery	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
user	O
's	O
sharing	O
behavior	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ShareThis	B-Protocol
was	O
founded	O
in	O
2007	O
by	O
David	O
E	O
.	O
Goldberg	O
,	O
an	O
engineering	O
professor	O
at	O
University	O
of	O
Illinois	O
at	O
Urbana-Champaign	O
,	O
and	O
Tim	O
Schigel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
February	O
2019	O
,	O
The	O
Register	O
published	O
a	O
story	O
indicating	O
that	O
16	O
companies	O
,	O
including	O
ShareThis	B-Protocol
,	O
were	O
the	O
victims	O
of	O
a	O
security	O
incident	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
data	O
was	O
listed	O
for	O
sale	O
on	O
the	O
dark	O
web	O
,	O
and	O
following	O
publishing	O
of	O
The	O
Register	O
's	O
article	O
,	O
ShareThis	B-Protocol
verified	O
the	O
breach	O
and	O
sent	O
notifications	O
to	O
compromised	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ShareThis	B-Protocol
then	O
launched	O
an	O
investigation	O
with	O
forensic	O
and	O
data	O
security	O
experts	O
to	O
review	O
the	O
incident	O
and	O
identify	O
measures	O
to	O
improve	O
security	O
.	O
</s>
