Phone-Based Authentication Firm Authentify Acquires Technology Firm

Authentify strengthens its position in mobile authentication and funds transfer verification markets

March 15, 2011

2 Min Read

PRESS RELEASE

CHICAGO – March 14, 2011— Authentify today disclosed its acquisition of Hawk and Seal Inc. along with its portfolio of out-of-channel, mobile authentication intellectual property. The acquisition was completed as an all stock transaction. “We are reinvesting proceeds from our recent successful years to offer our customers additional weapons in the war on cyber criminals,” said Peter Tapling, Authentify’s President and CEO. “The Hawk and Seal technology complements our core phone-based authentication products while adding key strategic mobile authentication capabilities. The combined technologies will offer very effective protection even when a user’s computer or smart phone has been compromised by malware.”

Authentify’s current products provide phone-based, out-of-band authentication schemas. They are used to add strong 2-Factor authentication for end user logons, transaction detail verification and/or other account tampering alerts. The Hawk and Seal technologies provide several additional mechanisms for end users to review and approve transactions “in flight” via traditional internet/Web or mobile channels.

Ravi Ganesan, Hawk and Seal’s founder, is joining Authentify’s management team as Chief Scientist and is excited at the prospects for the combined technologies. “The rapid advances in online and mobile commerce are being tempered by equally rapid advances in crimeware. A new generation of authentication tools is needed to authenticate legitimate users and give them greater involvement and control at the transaction level. Our two technology bases combine to form that next generation of tool.”

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About Ravi Ganesan

Ravi is an information technology entrepreneur and business executive with over twenty years of progressive leadership experience. His career includes posts as Vice President of Distributed Operations for Verizon, Vice Chair and Chief Technology Officer at CheckFree Corporation and founder/CEO of TriCipher a leading provider of security technology to the financial services industry. He currently also serves as an Operating Partner at the Comvest Group, a leading private equity firm.

Ravi holds a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a B.E. from Anna University. He is also a successful innovator as the holder of over twenty issued and fifty pending patents.

About Authentify, Inc.

Authentify, Inc. is the leading provider of telephone-based, out-of-band authentication services. These services enable organizations that need strong security to quickly and cost-effectively add 2-factor or 3-factor authentication layers to user logon, transaction verifications or critical changes such as adding a payee to an e-pay or wire account. The company’s patented technology employs a service oriented message architecture and XML API to seamlessly integrate into existing security processes. Authentify markets primarily to financial services firms that need to protect their clients’ online accounts, corporate security professionals managing corporate access control, and e-merchants who want to limit fraud on their sites.

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