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Fingerprint , a gimmick intelligence API , helps developers build up security solutions using information from hardware access a site . The primary goal is to aid prevent fraud .
Today , the Chicago - based company announced a $ 33 million Series C investing led by Nexus Venture Partners with participation from Uncorrelated Ventures .
Dan Pinto , the company ’s conscientious objector - beginner and CEO , pronounce what his startup does really well is identify twist on the internet , whether through a web browser app like Chrome , Safari or Firefox , or through a fluid operating system via a native app on your phone . He reason that the methods of go after devices like cooky and IP addresses do n’t really work any longer with changes in web web browser engineering science , specially with the ability to enshroud who you are using a VPN .
“ Fundamentally being anonymous on the net imply that you could do bad things , ” Pinto told TechCrunch .
“ We offer our [ fingerprinting ] servicing to eminent - graduated table byplay in orderliness to unambiguously identify devices and prevent things like people log into other people ’s invoice they ’re not presuppose to , using steal credit card across multiple phony account and thing like that . ”
They do this via an API , enabling developers to associate to their service of process to aid forbid fraud on their websites . He enunciate they look for thing like what fonts are installed on the equipment , the screen resolution … all the fashion to really mysterious technical thing like how the equipment complete an SSL handshake with the server . The society ’s engineering science is ground on an undecided root library called Fingerprint.js , create by co - beginner and CTO Valentin Vasilyev .
Pinto meet Vasilyev at his previous startup , Machinio , when he rent him as one of the society ’s first package engineers . By that clip , Vasilyev had already created the assailable beginning Fingerprint.js projection and it was gaining in popularity . About a yr after Machinio was trade in 2018 , he leave to find a way to work up on the success of the receptive seed project . Pinto shortly joined him and Fingerprint was deport .
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While the company still technically supports the undecided rootage libraries , Pinto suppose they offer a less robust experience . “ So the engineering we apply to discover the great unwashed in the open root rendering has been in the open too long , and bad actors have figured out ways to get around it , ” he said . “ Whereas the technologies that we utilize in the pro version , we ’re able to keep more secret because it ’s not exposed germ , and they work importantly better , ” he say .
There are some tricksy privacy implications with a result like this , especially in Europe with GDPR regulations , but Pinto tell that the company does n’t really collect personal selective information . “ The way that we get around that is that fundamentally , we still do n’t know who the person is . We only know the devices , and it ’s an anon. identifier even from our side . So all you ’re doing when you obtain our identifier is comparing multiple anon. identifiers to find patterns , and then blocking anon. identifiers [ if take ] , ” he explained .
While some client want to go that supernumerary step to identify the exploiter , he tell his troupe is not providing the mean to do that . “ If you assort the identifier with an email savoir-faire , then the next meter the anonymous identifier comes back , you could jazz who it is , but we do n’t cognize who it is needfully , and we design our system in that way to avoid [ come up against the seclusion laws ] , ” he said .
He adds while it ’s theoretically potential for ship’s company to utilize the technology for marketing and advertizing design , the pricing deter that .
The fellowship has grown to 100 employees and 6,000 client , include TD Ameritrade , Western Union and US Bank .
