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.

Web and mobile security company Akamai is bolstering its workforce today with the appointment of a new Chief Information Officer. Starting today, Fari Ebrahimi (pictured) will take on the role, combined with the duties and title of Senior Vice President. Ebrahimi succeeds Kumud Kalia, who will remain with Akamai in an advisory role over the next two months.

Ebrahimi will be responsible for global strategy, development, app operations, and IT infrastructure for Akamai’s customers, employees, and partners. In a press release, Ebrahimi said his goal is to “drive and scale end-to-end digital transformation across all business processes to maximize and secure our customer, partner, and employee experiences, while optimizing operations leveraging Akamai’s world-class solutions.”

Ebrahimi most recently served as SVP and Global CIO of Avaya, a California-based mobile network operator. Prior to that appointment, he spent 13 years working in multiple capacities at Verizon, including as President of Verizon Information Technologies, and as SVP and CIO of Verizon Services Operations, where he was in charge of leading a workforce of almost 4,000.

Discussing Ebrahimi’s strong background, Akamai CEO Dr. Tom Leighton said Ebrahimi “has demonstrated both significant results and cost savings in leading complex enterprise transformations, especially in the areas of cloud, mobile and security. We look forward to combining his talents with our existing strong IT team.”

Akamai was founded in 1998 and most recently presented at FinovateEurope 2015 in London where it debuted Client Reputation Service. The solution helps FIs forecast security issues and protect against DDoS attacks, web attackers, screen scrapers, and scanning tools. In November of last year, the Massachusetts-based company acquired Nominum, a DNS security solutions company. And in October, Akamai teamed up with Bell to offer a suite of web security and performance solutions for Canadian businesses.