Avast, a global leader in digital security and privacy, announced the acquisition of SecureKey Technologies, a global provider of digital identity and authentication solutions headquartered in Canada.
SecureKey’s next generation privacy-enhancing services are focused on simplifying access to online services while giving control back to consumers by ensuring the information they share with others is only ever with their explicit consent.
Identity and Authentication and reusable digital identity services are expected to grow to $266 billion by 2027 with a CAGR of 68.9 per cent, according to Liminal (formerly OWI), the digital identity specialists, with the private sector to capture the majority of this growth. SecureKey’s mission has been to simplify consumer access to secure online services and applications, such as government, healthcare, and financial account opening, utilising secure digital versions of the credentials they already have and trust.
“We envisage a global and reusable digital identity framework that will underpin a new trust layer for the internet,” said Ondrej Vlcek, Avast CEO. “It’s clear that digital identity is the critical enabler for many digital services, and SecureKey’s success reflects consumers’ growing demand for this. SecureKey is highly complementary to Avast’s prior work in Identity. We will take our offer to the next level, accelerating innovation and establishing a user-focused, global approach that aligns user, business, and government propositions. We are committed to developing fully inclusive offerings for everyone, regardless of their circumstances.”
Services developed by SecureKey include those currently known as Verified.Me, a first-of-its-kind, distributed digital identity verification network, and Government Sign-In by Verified.Me for convenient login to hundreds of government online services and applications. Interac Corp. provides both services under an exclusive Canadian licensing arrangement. SecureKey’s digital identity solutions enable over 200 million secure digital ID transactions per year globally. SecureKey’s continued investments will support emerging digital identity standards and solutions, including DIDs (Decentralized Identifiers) and Verifiable Credentials, to further empower digital trust networks and ecosystems, enabling true user-centric control.
“SecureKey’s vision has been to revolutionise the way consumers and organisations approach identity and the sharing of personal information in the digital age. By working closely with governments, financial institutions and businesses, we have an established track record of trusted and mature identity networks that provide consumers with the secure digital capabilities they deserve,” said Greg Wolfond, CEO, SecureKey. “Combining forces with Avast enables us to innovate further and faster with our technology as we together look to build a more trustworthy future for all internet users.”
“The maturity of the SecureKey hybrid federation, bank ID, and decentralised technology suite and history of strong operational delivery in Canada for discerning financial services and government customers & partners positions Avast for geographic expansion. As the European community is investing in public-private sector digital identity infrastructure in 2022 and beyond, we see Avast well-positioned as a collaborative provider of digital trust services for people, digital businesses and government,” said Charles Walton, General Manager and SVP Identity, Avast. “Success for us is where digital identity becomes simple, user-centric and portable, and can enable a more trustworthy digital experience and deeper online engagement benefiting both people and business.”
