In a move to further its presence in the government and financial sectors, Toronto-based Diversinet Corp. has acquired identity management technology provider Caradas Inc., it announced on Tuesday.
Diversinet provides secure mobile solutions including Passport ONE, which secures Internet applications and mobile devices, and Passport SMS Messenger which secures and enables the exchange of information between Internet applications and mobile devices for enterprise and financial services customers. Diversinet also offers project management and systems integration to customers.
Braintree, Mass.-based Caradas develops smart card, digital identity and authentication management technology geared mainly to financial and government organizations. This focus will enable Diversinet to push further into those areas. Caradas’s customer list includes Visa USA, Visa International, MasterCard International Inc. and First National Bank.
The deal made for Caradas was an all-stock transaction. Financial details of the transaction were not available at press time.
With the recent explosion of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and the continued growth of mobile workers across North America, Eric Ogren, senior analyst in the security, solutions and services practice for the Yankee Group in Boston says addressing security in the wireless world remains a concern.
“If you’re looking at authenticating wireless users over SSL (secure socket layer) VPN (virtual private network) you can authenticate the user but you can’t authenticate the device,” he said. This type of technology can help people use wireless technologies on the road provide more security in hotspots, he added.
Ogren said Diversinet will benefit from having Visa and MasterCard as a business partner in addition to supporting their technologies.
The company is at www.diversinet.com.