Akamai has teamed up with CashFlows to help the U.K.-based fintech protect cardholder and personal data from cyberattack. CashFlows will leverage Akamai’s Kona Site Defender solution, which provides DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) mitigation, web app security, and 24/7 monitoring. CashFlows added that the new security solution from Akamai also will enable it to add more payment options and products to its platform. Cryptocurrencies, data analytics, and gateways were among the additional solutions that could be introduced. All will be supported by Akamai security technology.
CashFlows CTO Mat Peck credited Akamai’s “global network and expertise” in explaining the company’s decision to work together. This expertise included Akamai’s track record in defending companies against some of the largest DDoS attacks in the world. Kona Site Defender runs on the edge servers of the Akamai Intelligent Edge platform. The fact that the system is supported by Fast DNS means that CashFlows can service its customers via local DNS servers while adding a layer of DDoS protection. “We need to make sure anyone anywhere in the world can make local connections to our service, in a way that is resilient and incredibly protected,” Peck said.
One of the first independent U.K. payments firms to be accepted as a principal member of both Mastercard and Visa, CashFlows currently processes payments for more than 1,000 customers and powers 34,000+ ATMs throughout Europe. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Cambridge, the company provides merchant services, alternative payments, and BIN Sponsorship solutions via its cloud-based payments platform. Martin Belsham is CEO.
Akamai demonstrated the Client Reputation feature of Kona Site Defender at FinovateEurope 2015. The service enables FIs to identify which IP addresses are likely to represent a web or DDoS attacker, web scraper, or scanning tool. More recently, Akamai unveiled its Enterprise Defender solution to help its customers transition toward Zero Trust security regime. The company launched its Edge Cloud solution line in June, which facilitates data delivery between IoT connected devices and in-app messaging at scale. The launch highlighted Akamai’s IoT Edge Connect, a product that provides a secure framework for sending and publishing information using Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) common to IoT and in-app messaging.
Akamai began the year with news that it planned to acquire customer identity access management company Janrain. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and founded in 1998, Akamai trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker AKAM. The company has a market capitalization of $14 billion.