SafeNet swallows cloud-based authentication firm

SafeNet has bought UK-based cloud-based authentication firm Cryptocard.  Financial terms of the deal, announced Monday, were not disclosed.

The deal will allow SafeNet’s existing server-based authentication technology to work alongside Cryptocard’s Blackshield cloud-based services. Cryptocard markets a range of SMS-based mobile, software and hardware token-based authentication products to ISPs and enterprises. It also markets credit cards with built-in one-time tokens.

Cryptocard snapped up GRIDsure's GRID-based authentication technology last November, prior to being acquired itself.

SafeNet was established by former NSA spooks in the late 1980s. It began by developing Virtual Private Network, encryption and security technologies prior to becoming more involved in authentication and DRM, largely through the acquisition of Rainbow Technologies back in 2003. ®