Early Warning, a fraud prevention and risk management company, Tuesday announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Authentify Inc, according to a press release. Founded in 1999, Authentify provides phone-based, multifactor authentication products. It currently serves more than 1,200 financial institutions and e-commerce companies, according to the announcement.

Upon closing, Early Warning said the acquisition will enable it to offer organizations digital multifactor authentication and the ability to integrate, manage and prioritize multiple digital channel authentication methods via one platform, reducing fraud and risk while improving the consumer experience. 

Early Warning also has an equity investment and exclusive agreement with Payfone, another fraud prevention company. With its acqusition of Authentify and its partnership with Payfone, Early Warning said in the announcement it can provide a suite of services that:

• improves mobile security and reduces consumer friction by leveraging innovation in biometric and behavioral authentication;
• strengthens authentication events, unlike usernames and passwords;
• supports the integration, delivery, prioritization and management of current and future digital authentication technologies enabled by a software development kit; and
• offers a true, persistent identifier that is authenticated in real time, via mobile network operators. 

"As organizations strive to provide consumers with an online experience that is both seamless and secure, managing authentication factors and methods is crucial," said Paul Finch, CEO of Early Warning. "With the acquisition of Authentify, Early Warning is well on its way to realizing its vision of providing both the powerful multifaceted authentication needed today plus the advanced authentication needs of the future."

Peter Tapling, CEO of Authentify, said: "Guarding businesses and consumers from fraud is becoming more critical each day, and this acquisition represents two companies with a common objective uniting to reinforce that goal. Our customers have come to trust Authentify to better secure their online environments, and we are pleased to see their ability to authenticate with ease and accuracy only strengthened."