Terms were not disclosed, but Mastercard announced today that it would acquire Canadian anti-fraud specialist, NuData Security. Mastercard signaled that the addition would help the company with device-level authentication, but the move is widely believed to buttress its cybersecurity arsenal as payments from devices connected to the Internet of Things become a reality.

“Securing all payments today and tomorrow remains a top priority for Mastercard,” Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security for Mastercard said. Bhalla added NuData Security’s combination of “session and biometric information” will better help defend against a wide variety of online and device-targeting threats, “enabling us to deliver even greater trust and peace of mind.”

Pictured: Robert Capps, VP for Business Development at NuData Security, demonstrating NuDetect at FinovateSpring 2016.

“For nearly a decade, we’ve worked to develop innovative solutions to help transform the way banks and merchants digitally interact with consumers,” NuData Security CEO Michel Giasson said. He added “Those efforts will continue and accelerate through our collective enhanced capabilities to secure the digital landscape, while offering an enhanced user experience.”

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, NuData Security demonstrated its NuDetect behavior analytics platform at FinovateSpring 2016. NuDetect analyzes a user’s online, mobile app, and smartphone interactions, and flags those interactions that suggest anomalous behavior or represent the greatest potential risk. Each interaction provides the technology with more information, giving merchants and card issuers the ability to provide authorizations in real time.

Last December, NuData announced that Arvato Financial Solutions would deploy its behavioral biometric solution. And in October, the company partnered with Early Warning to bring biometric technology to real-time payments. An alum of our FinDEVr developers events as well as our Finovate conferences, NuData presented “NuDetect – It’s All About Trust” at FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley.