(Sharecast News) - Cybersecurity group Avast has agreed to acquire US self-sovereign identity firm Evernym.
Avast said on Thursday that the acquisition was expected to close in mid-December, with the general availability of products based on Evernym's technology set to follow in 2022.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Chief executive Ondrej Vlcek said: "Consumer trust in the online world has been critically compromised. Over 60% of the world's population has internet access today yet we don't have adequate provisions in place for these people to prove who they are online. The result is that identity theft, online fraud and account takeovers are growing rapidly, as does mass-scale digital tracking and surveillance.

"Adding Evernym's groundbreaking self-sovereign identity technology to our offering enables us to address this area and is a huge step forward in the realization of a digital world where decentralized, portable identities are available universally and globally."