Micro-blogging site Twitter is acquiring password security startup Mitro in an effort to help push online security and privacy forward after months of frustration and controversy over large tech companies' efforts to ensure their users are protected.
On top of the purchase, Twitter is also moving the software into open source, which will allow developers to have complete access to the coding, which should help increase the speed of innovation over password protection.
The New York startup has developed its technology in a manner that allows more than one person to share and control passwords on a single account. This means that for businesses who have multiple employees working on one account, the employees can control and share passwords for that single account with ease and security.
Unlike some of Twitter's other recent acquisitions, Mitro Labs will not be incorporated into the Twitterfold, instead the product is likely to continue to develop through open sourcing. According to reports, Mitro will work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to develop the existing and future code as well as get guidance from the foundation on how to become self-sustainable as a nonprofit community project. The EFF works to protect online privacy.
Mitro will remain live until at least the end of the year.
"As of today, we are releasing all of Mitro's server and client code under the GPL license on GitHub," a message on Mitro's site reads.
There were no immediate reports of the financials in the deal, although Mitro had raised over $2 million dollars through Google Ventures and Matrix Partners as part of its seed campaign.
It comes on the heels of much public consternation over Twitter's refusal to release its demographics to the public. This acquisition and move to open-source Mitro could be a PR move to help rebuild some of the lost confidence in the company over the past few weeks.
Tech Times has reported on the demographics issue extensively, including the push by Rev. Jesse Jackson to have tech companies release their diversity statistics to the public, which he says is part of ensuring that the tech world continues to diversify its employee base. Twitter did release its statistics in late July after the online pressure.
Twitter has also reported a large increase in its user base as revenue for the second quarter was much higher than previously expected after the bump from World Cup traffic, giving investors optimism over the company's future.
