Google acquires Israeli log-in verification technology start-up SlickLogin

Google has acquired Israeli early stage start-up SlickLogin, whose technology allows users to log in to websites using high-frequency sound waves.

''Today we`re announcing that the SlickLogin team is joining Google, a company that shares our core beliefs that logging in should be easy instead of frustrating, and authentication should be effective without getting in the way,'' SlickLogin's founders said in a blogpost.

Google did not disclose the financial terms of the deal of the latest in a string of several recent small acquisitions by the search engine giant that focuses on talent and technology.  

SlickLogin waqs founded less than a year ago by Or Zelig, Eran Galili, and Ori Kabeli, all of whom have graduated from Israel Defence Force's cyber security unit.

SlickLogin's technology uses a bunch of protocols that verify a user's phone position - WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, visual markers like QR codes, and GPS.

The user's computer plays the unique high-frequency sound wave through its speakers, while an app on the user's smartphone uses the device's built-in microphone to pick up the audio to authenticate the identity of the user.

The technology can be used either as a replacement for a password or as second-step security layer, according to analysts.

SlickLogin has not launched its product yet, but analysts say that Google was interested in its technology and talent.

"Google was the first company to offer two-step verification to everyone, for free - and 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," the SlickLogin founders wrote on the company website.