Feature
Maybe Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s corporate shoppers were ducking in-and-out of SXSW sessions last month looking for smart acquisitions. If so, then they not only learned How to Rob a Bank, but also spotted a genius buy in Toopher.
Its co-founder and CTO Evan Grim, in his personal LinkedIn profile, describes Toopher as “an invisible, location-based multifactor authentication solution designed around user behavior and powered by your phone's location awareness."
Grim claims by blending strong technology with lean and thoughtful user experience, "Toopher automates the authentication process via your phone, making it 'go invisible' -- not only preventing online fraud and identity theft, but creating a security solution that people actually want to use. No more passwords hacks, no more codes. It's simple, secure, and your phone stays in your pocket.”
Toopher’s hometown newspaper, the Austin American Statesman, confirmed the sale last night. The purchase price, as far as we can tell, hasn’t been revealed.
The company’s name,”Toopher” is a play on the term “two factor.”
New School
Unlike “old school” two-step authentication, which is often required when using apps like Facebook, Google, Outlook, Dropbox and Evernote, Toopher automates the second step when you’re in a safe, secure and known location such as your home or office.
It’s able to do this via a GPS feature developed by Grim and his co-founder Josh Alexander.
This way “you're only bothered when a login is out of the ordinary -- like when you're in a new location or being hacked,” notes Toopher’s write up in the Google Play store. From an end user’s perspective, it’s a brilliant, non- intrusive way to help you protect yourself from online fraud.
For a company like Salesforce that wants to provide secure, seamless mobile experiences for its customers, it could be a gem.
Though Salesforce hasn’t said what it will do with Toopher, it’s likely that its technology will be integrated into its products. That way Salesforce’s mobile users would have one less step to take and one less thing to worry about while they’re working.
Toopher, according to its website, will no longer be selling its current product. "Even though we will no longer sell our current product, our commitment to your security remains steadfast (as does our love for breakfast tacos)," Grim and Alexander noted on the Toopher website.
