Shape Security Applies Shapeshifter Technology to Mobile Apps

Shape Security has extended its flagship polymorphic technology, which protects the sign-in procedures of Internet-based applications against automated attacks, to now secure mobile applications.

Shape—a startup that emerged from stealth a couple of years ago with its ShapeShifter technology—has unveiled the Shape Botwall Service for Mobile to protect the enterprise’s native mobile transactions against automated threats, the company said in a press release. The new solution builds upon Shapeshifter to use a client-side SDK and ShapeShifter Elements to harden the APIs used by mobile applications.

ShapeShifter is technology that protects against malicious bots by constantly changing the source code of sections of websites that create the user sign-in interface. These changes are known as polymorphism, and while the average user isn’t aware of them, they can disarm bots used by hackers to launch automated attacks.

Extending this technology for mobile applications makes sense since “mobile API services are susceptible to the same vulnerabilities as their corresponding web applications, because they are designed to provide the same functionality,” the company said.

The Shape Botwall Service for Mobile already protects more than 10 million users who regularly make mobile payments, according to Shape.

“We have grown tremendously in the last year, adding customers in new industries, and demonstrating that a platform for comprehensive protection against automated attacks is the most important missing piece of security for the world’s largest companies,” said Derek Smith, CEO of Shape, in the release.

To help promote this growth, the company also recently closed another round of funding, raising $25 million in Series D funding to bring the Shape Botwall Service to customers around the world.

Indeed, Shape has some big names backing its technology and strategy going forward. The lead investor in the new round was Baseline Ventures, which was joined by Northern Light Venture Capital and Epic Ventures as new sources of funding for Shape, the company said. Northern Light specifically aims to help the company expand into China, according to Shape.

With existing investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Venrock, Norwest Venture Partners, Google Ventures and Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures, among others, the company has raised a total of $91 million in funding.