EMC Acquires Verid

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EMC’s acquisition of Verid is to broaden, strengthen and simplify rsa identity protection portfolio.

EMC Corporation, the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, announced that it has acquired Verid, Inc., a privately held information security technology leader based in Florida that delivers knowledge-based authentication solutions to millions of users worldwide, through some of the largest consumer-facing financial institutions, telecom providers and retailers. The acquisition is complete and further details of the transaction are not being disclosed.

The addition of Verid marks a significant enhancement in EMC's commitment – through its RSA division – to providing protection, visibility and business acceleration at every point of the user verification process. RSA is now strongly positioned to offer continuous security: starting with the initial user identity verification and maintaining perpetual vigilance throughout the lifecycle of the relationship, across the various channels of user interaction.

"RSA currently has more than 100 million

online financial services user accounts under contract across the globe – making it a clear leader in authentication and consumer protection solutions," said Vice President, Consumer and Access Solutions at RSA, Christopher Young. "The acquisition of Verid both builds upon our existing set of authentication methods and – significantly – extends our capabilities into the preliminary vetting and verification stages of new user relationships in a variety of markets."

The comprehensive RSA Adaptive Authentication suite will now cover the identity verification process from end-to-end, through a new two-tier approach.

Verid's technology and expertise adds advantages to RSA and EMC customers in both of these tiers. Initial authentication will be established using knowledge-based techniques, in conjunction with RSA's recognized risk engine and the RSA eFraudNetworksm community.

In addition, customers will enjoy an expanded set of ongoing authentication options –

a long-term RSA commitment – alongside industry-leading anti-fraud solutions. Knowledge-based authentication will help enable more efficient and robust exception handling throughout the user relationship – for instance if a credential is lost; if there is suspicion that a credential may have been compromised; or during high-value or high-risk transactions.

Customers will also benefit from the combination of RSA's Risk Analytics and Verid's Question Intelligence Analytics. This solution will be engineered to allow organizations to adjust the questions' level of difficulty in real-time during the knowledge-based authentication process, according to the risk of each specific activity. This will permit businesses to strike the right balance between security and usability, and further equip them to acquire more new customers without the need for excessive or onerous verification measures.

Young continued: "With this acquisition, we are expanding our ability to provide

customers with the most robust set of solutions and deployment options available to protect identities and transactions – both online and via the phone channel. In fact, due to our pre-existing partnership with Verid, we have already made great progress in combining knowledge-based authentication capabilities into the RSA Adaptive Authentication solution."

"We are thrilled and very proud to join forces with RSA, a world leader in identity protection," said CEO of Verid, Kevin Watson prior to the acquisition. "I am confident that Verid's team and technology will make a strong contribution to EMC's overall offering and both companies' customers are set to see the benefits of this exciting combination."

Immediately following the close of the acquisition on June 1st, EMC and Verid assembled cross-functional teams to develop integration plans designed to maximize business leverage and efficiencies. Verid will function as a separate product line/services offering within RSA

, The Security Division of EMC for at least the remainder of 2007. Kevin Watson will continue to lead this business, reporting directly to RSA's Christopher Young.