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