Visa’s Andrew Torre claimed the acquisition will enable the organisation to better identify fraud before it impacts consumers at the point of payment.
Payment platform Visa has stated it plans to acquire Israel-based cybersecurity company BioCatch as a means of tackling cybersecurity breaches and AI-powered attacks.
Andrew Torre, the president of value-added services at Visa, said the $2.4bn cash acquisition will enable Visa’s clients to prevent fraudulent activity before it reaches a point of payment.
Established in Tel Aviv in 2011 by Avi Turgemen, Benny Rosenbaum and Uri Rivner, BioCatch aims to detect fraud and differentiate legitimate users from fraudulent users in real time by analysing signals. The organisation has offices in Tel Aviv, London, New York, São Paulo, Mexico City, Mumbai and Sydney.
Reportedly, as part of the acquisition, Visa will gain access to BioCatch’s biometrics platform, which can analyse identifying data such as keystroke timing, touch screen pressure and other signals used to distinguish real users from fake.
In a public statement, BioCatch’s CEO Gadi Mazor said, “Real-time insights into customer intent continue to grow increasingly essential for institutions to establish trust within digital banking sessions. For more than a decade, we’ve demonstrated behavior’s unique ability to distinguish the criminal from the legitimate.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve shown how real-time intelligence-sharing networks between our customers can amplify the power of our behavioral intelligence further still. Together with Visa, we’re even better positioned to advance our mission of making the world a safer place to transact and protect consumers from financial crime.”
AI-powered cyberattacks are becoming an increasingly concerning issue for organisations. In late July, chipmaker Nvidia formed an alliance with other companies in the technology space, in order to develop and share tools designed for enhanced AI safety and cybersecurity.
The Open Secure AI Alliance’s founding members include Adobe, Crowdstrike, Hugging Face and Dell Technologies, among others.
Visa’s deal will be subject to the traditional closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of Visa’s fiscal second quarter of 2027.
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