Akamai Technologies has acquired Janrain, an identity management software firm, for an undisclosed sum. The deal positions the cloud delivery platform to offer retailers more options to crack down on identity fraud and bot attacks and to improve security across channels.
Under terms of the acquisition, Akamai will combine the Janrain Identity Cloud and the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, a security software solution that defends against DDoS attacks and bots that look like legitimate customers trying to access a site. Janrain will operate fully under the Akamai brand once the platforms are integrated.
Janrain provides Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) as a service, enabling enterprises to enhance digital trust by bringing identity awareness to online engagements through social and traditional registration, login, authentication, single sign-on and end-user profile data storage and management.
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Akamai will leverage Janrain to improve the abilities of its Bot Manager, which detects bots as they attempt to log in to customers’ web sites using stolen credentials. It provides customers with the ability to detect, mitigate and effectively manage such attacks on a global scale. By using Akamai threat intelligence, retailers can decide which users should be allowed to access registration and login pages.
The Janrain technology will allow Akamai to better understand login history and access patterns such as location, time of day and device accessed, which can help further differentiate legitimate end user login attempts from bot-based attacks. It also will allow Akamai to offer better, more nuanced responses to potential attackers, including step-up authentication that enhances protection without compromising the normal end user experience.
