Google has yet again made a quiet acquisition as it continues to grow its selection of building blocks in preparation for a connected, smart and automated world - way before consumers are ready for such a life.
This time, news emerged at the weekend that the search giant has bought SlickLogin - a new Israeli start-up that authenticates users through sound.
The latest deal adds to Google's recent purchases of a mobile alarm clock developer, a company that makes robots, a group that turns out smoke alarms, and its move into making smart contact lenses.
Google is increasingly investing in an automated future, one in which everything is connected, and self-driving cars and robots are the norm and no longer a futuristic idea. It is currently buying small companies to add to this portfolio for when consumers are ready.
On the face of it, a security solution that authenticates users based on sound seems to be backward thinking, as biometrics is increasingly - despite its failings - seen as the way to go. However, SlickLogin fits into Google's Internet of Things future vision and has a role to play as a master key to unlock doors, bank accounts and online presences.
However, there are security concerns around the future use of Google's purchase as end-users could be handing over their online - and offline - identities to the search giant.
Easy login
News of the deal seems to have broken after TechCrunch spotted an announcement on SlickLogin's Web site. The undated notice says the company, reportedly started just five months ago, is joining the search giant.
Google, it says, shares its "core beliefs that logging in should be easy instead of frustrating, and authentication should be effective without getting in the way".
The search engine, say SlickLogin's three founders, was the first company to offer two-step verification to everyone, for free. "They're working on some great ideas that will make the Internet safer for everyone. We couldn't be more excited to join their efforts."
CrazyEngineers explains SlickLogin works by sending a nearly-silent sound through a computer's speaker, which is recognised by an app on a smartphone. "The app then analyses the sound and sends it back to the site's sever confirming your identity."
SlickLogin uses GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and near-field communication to verify the phone's position, and the sound generated is unique and cannot be heard by the human ear, says the site. The security measure, it says, was "built either to replace the traditional password system, or as an authentication system on top of the password".
Planning ahead
However, Swift Consulting CEO and tech blogger Liron Segev says Google never buys something for just one purpose. He says Google wants to own the future building blocks for when people are ready for an automated world.
Google recently made several forays into the connected world, including its bid - as reported by Reuters - to test a contact lens equipped with tiny chips and an antenna, which will allow diabetics to monitor their blood-sugar levels. It has also acquired Nest Labs - a company that provides home tools such as smoke detectors and thermostats - for $3.2 billion.
That deal followed its purchase of Bitspin, a Swiss mobile app developer, which makes Timely, a blend of alarm clock, stopwatch and timer.
Segev says Google is making deals now, thanks to its pots of gold in the bank, to own intellectual property that will allow it to be ready when the time is right for a smart, connected, automated world.
In the third quarter of last year, the giant turned over $14.89 billion, and made a net profit of $2.97 billion. Although it spent almost that amount on capital items - a trend it expects to continue - it still ended the period with $14.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says, currently, the deal makes no sense because the world is moving beyond two-step verification, which is what SwiftLogin offers, to three-step solutions such as biometrics.
Goldstuck says there must be more behind Google's purchase. As a machine-to-machine technology, it would be a natural element of connecting the Internet of Things, rather than the Internet of people, says Goldstuck. "To use one object to get into another is something straight out of the 1990s. Google is not famous for sticking to what was big in the 1990s."
Segev says Google is not about individual products, but what it can do when it pulls all of these together. He says SlickLogin could be its way of taking passwords, like that used for people's single Google account, into a physical world.
In the future, people's smartphones could unlock doors, or be used as a key for bank accounts, says Segev. He says the future play is identity security and Google wants to keep identities.
Although this will make things more convenient for end-users, it also means trusting one's entire online - and in future, offline - identity to Google, Segev cautions. He adds there is also a concern that stolen handsets could lead to security issues.
Segev says when all identities are placed under one tool, regardless of the convenience, there will be a risk. However, he expects security solutions, such as remote lockdown, to become the norm.
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