Ohanae Universal Cloud ID: The One Security Software To Rule Them All?

Let’s be honest with ourselves. Despite all the reports of online fraud, many of us are still not doing much to protect our computers. Sure we might install an anti-virus program but that’s pretty much it. And who can blame us? Have you seen how complicated some of these so-called internet security measures are? And who has the time to think of so many passwords anyway? Enter internet security start-up Ohanae with Universal Cloud ID, a software program designed to make protecting the data on your computer as easy as pie.

As its name suggests, Universal Cloud ID was created to address the growing number of security issues stemming from the use of cloud-based and OpenID services. For the uninitiated, OpenID is an open standard that allows users to log onto multiple websites with just one account. Simply put, you no longer have to create a new password to access different sites.

“Reinventing the password”

It might sound like a tall claim to some, but founder and CEO Greg Hauw says that with Universal Cloud ID, they have “reinvented the password.” Scheduled to launch in the United States next January, it offers a triple line of defense by nullifying keylogging, phishing, man-in-the-middle and man-in-the-browser threats as well as “brute force” attacks perpetrated by banking Trojans.

In addition, it also covers up your tracks by sanitizing your hard drive and lets you store your files in an encrypted secure drive. To put it another way, had this program been installed on Edison Chen’s laptop three years ago, he’d probably still be on speaking terms with half of Hong Kong’s actresses.

How does it work

To get Universal Cloud ID up and running, all you have to do is install the software on your device and sign up for an Ohanae account. The clincher here is that you don’t have to rack your brains for a password. All you have to do is type “**” and “*+” in the username and password fields respectively and the program will generate a unique password for each account.

Another key feature that distinguishes Universal Cloud ID from its competitors is that it doesn’t interfere with the way you use your computer, that is, it doesn’t require you to switch to a stripped down secure browser or work in a virtualized sandbox, which might interfere with your operating system.

Ohanae: How it all started

Hauw says that keeping things simple has been the company’s mantra from the get-go. Set up with US$1.5 million in seed money, Ohanae grew from an idea that Hauw had three years ago when he noticed that people were reusing their online passwords for different web accounts. It gained further traction when his MacBook Pro broke down and he found out that it was against Apple policy for him to buy or demagnetize his hard drive. And then news of Edison Chen’s photo scandal broke out right around the same time, giving them the idea to include a secure drive component in their product.

As someone once said, everything happens for a reason.

Timing is everything

Ohanae’s January launch comes not a moment too soon, especially given that the use of OpenID looks set to rise. Indeed starting next March, US government employees will be able to use OpenID to log onto government websites and Hauw believes that other organizations will soon follow suit.

For many, the biggest security concern OpenID poses is that of privacy—if your account gets hacked, all your private data and messages are instantly compromised. As such the need to have a secure master key that can’t be “guessed, phished or stolen” becomes even more pertinent.

What next?

Currently comprising four full-time employees, Ohanae is in the process of raising US$5 million in Series A funding for its US expansion. The company is also partnering tertiary instutions such as the Singapore Management University School of Information Systems. Though its immediate focus is on the US and Singapore, Hauw says the company will eventually expand to China, adding that it will most likely adopt a different pricing model and localized content.

Also in the works is a collaboration with Microsoft to participate in IDA’s Next Generation Services Innovation Programme. A proposal to sync Universal Cloud ID to Windows Live services, which will leverage on the country’s much-talked about Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NGNBN), has already been submitted, and if successful, the service is expected to launch next March.

PC users will be able to access two versions of Universal Cloud ID on the company’s website come January. (Mac users will have to wait till the end of 2011 for their turn though.) There’s the free version, which you can use to protect up to five log-in accounts, and the premium version, which is priced at US$9.99 (S$13) per user per year and can be used to cover up to three devices as well as an unlimited number of log-in accounts. Also included in the latter are hard drive sanitizer Securworkplace™ and Securdrive™, an—you guessed it—encrypted security drive.

We’re intrigued by the simple user interface of Universal Cloud ID and suffice it to say that we’ll be watching to see how it performs in the US market.

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