Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

Oracle to buy ID theft detection company Bharosa

By China Martens , IDG News Service , 07/18/2007

While most of Oracle Corp.'s recent purchases have focused on growing its applications business, the vendor's latest proposed purchase will beef up its growing identity management operation.

Oracle announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Bharosa Inc., a provider of software to help detect online identity theft and fraud. The companies didn't reveal the financial details of the acquisition, which is expected to close next month.

"The transaction will extend Oracle's Identity Management capabilities by adding proactive real time risk-analysis, strong authentication and fraud prevention," Hasan Rizvi, vice president, identity management and security products at Oracle, wrote in a letter to customers.

Identity Management is part of Oracle's Fusion middleware.

Bharosa has two main products -- Tracker, antifraud software that works by verifying a variety of factors to confirm identity, and Authenticator, a suite of secure authentication software, which works with Web browsers to protect a range of sensitive information such as passwords from malicious attacks.

Once the purchase is completed, Oracle plans to add some of Bharosa's Tracker and Authenticator software to its existing online single sign-on (SSO) and Web-based authorization security products. The intention is to expand the use of Oracle's identity management software outside of an enterprise to safely encompass external users. At the same time, Oracle committed to continue to make Bharosa's software available on a stand-alone basis and to offer integrations with non-Oracle databases and applications as well as its own products.

Bharosa has more than 30 customers for its real-time fraud detection and multifactor online authentication enterprise security software. Consumer Web sites using Bharosa's technologies include Wells Fargo & Co. and National City Corp. In total, the company estimates its software protects 27 million users. Other Bharosa customers are AudioTel Corp., a supplier of software to banks, and I-flex solutions Ltd., an Indian financial services software vendor and an majority owned Oracle subsidiary.

Founded in 2003, privately held Bharosa has its headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The company's name means "trust" in Hindi.

Oracle was previously busy on the identity management front in 2005 buying up three companies -- Oblix, OctetString and Thor -- for their technologies which the vendor then integrated into its security offerings.

Partner Content

Explore the Ultrium Edge

The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.

Find out more

Disk and Tape Square Off

Discover what disk and tape really cost -- and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization

Download the White Paper

Don't Fall For The Myths

The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.

Download the White Paper

Will You Add Tape Too?

Over two thirds of disk-only users look to add tape back into storage infrastructure according to recent survey.

Download Survey Information

Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed

Whitepapers

Sun Microsystems: The Green Tide Is Coming. Pressure Builds for an Energy-Efficient Data Center

It's safe to say that most companies, if presented with hard numbers on their energy consumption...

Consolidated Disaster Recovery Using Virtualization

Server virtualization is providing enterprises of all sizes with exciting new options for...

Secure Wireless Printing Options

Discover how you can reduce the TCO of your wireless printers in this whitepaper. Learn how to...

Webcasts

Direct from Microsoft: Tips for Integrating Exchange 2007 and Double-Take Software

Double-Take (r) Software and Microsoft are teaming up on September 9, 2008 for a webinar focusing...

Transforming the Enterprise WAN Edge: Video from Cisco

Life on the edge of your WAN has changed dramatically. With the need to deliver advanced services,...

PoE Plus: Impact on the PoE Market

The standard for Power over Ethernet (PoE), IEEE Std. 802.3af(tm)-2003, advanced networking,...

Special Reports

The New Network/System Management Challenges

Increasingly popular technologies such as virtualization, wireless networking and data center...

Virtualization Reality Check

Find out why analysts say approaching virtualization with an ounce of caution is wise. And also why...

Closing the Loop: Extending Wireless LAN Security to Wireless Printers

Enterprises cannot overlook wireless printers when assessing network security. The print jobs and...

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, executive guides are added to our library. Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest on IT Technologies with Network World's Resource Alerts.