Featured Startup Pitch: UNLOQ – Strong authentication made simple

COMPANY: UNLOQ

ELEVATOR PITCH

Making strong authentication as it should be—simple and free.

PRODUCT/SERVICE DESCRIPTION

UNLOQ comes in the shape of a widget, which you can easily embed into your site, and a companion mobile app that your users will need in order to authenticate. The default authentication mechanism is a multi-factor system that uses out of band communication to authenticate a user. After a user has registered with UNLOQ (downloaded the app and created a profile), he will only have to click the UNLOQ button and, in a fraction of a second, he will receive a push notification on his mobile phone, asking the user to approve or deny the authentication request. To prevent spam, each user will be asked to verify his/her identity when sending their first authentication request from a browser. For the first authentication request, the user will receive a notification asking for a time-based one time password that they can find in the app.

And this takes us to the alternative authentication methods that UNLOQ allows. The first one is a time-based one time password that users can select, in case they don’t have Internet access on their phone. The second one is the email login option that can be used in case the user does not have a smartphone. Developers may choose to have one, both, or none of the alternative authentication mechanisms implemented, depending on the specific case for which they are building the system.

DIFFERENTIATORS VS. THE COMPETITION

Companies such as Twilio, Authy, Google Authenticator, OneLogin, TeleSign, or RSA have developed initiatives aimed at improving security over the past years. However, most of them do this by providing a second factor for authentication, such as a hardware/software token generator or an SMS, thus using the same channel to provide proof of identity that makes users prone to man-in-the-middle type of attacks. Besides, the users still have to invest in managing user credentials.

UNLOQ sets apart from its competitors by providing one solution for businesses that want to manage authentication from one single place. The app uses multiple channels to authenticate a user and thus creates higher barriers against the man-in-the-middle type of attacks, and it can be used while accessing services from any device.

FOUNDERS

Mircea Patachi, CEO and co-founder

Having more than 10 years of experience in the IT industry, Mircea has built solutions for established companies like Lynda.com or BMI and has worked in different roles such as product manager or head of development. Having an entrepreneurial mindset, he has started several ventures inside Evozon, his current employer. He has a bachelor degree in finance, an MBA, and several other courses completed as he saw fit along the way.

Adrian Bunta, CTO and co-founder

His partner, Adrian, has been working over the past five years developing large-scale applications in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, and PHP. He is passionate about everything related to high performance and security, and has built several other products before joining forces with Mircea.

BUSINESS MODEL

Free Basic features; ONE APP $4.98 per application/month; BUSINESS $298 per account/month.