‘Visual eavesdroppers’ be warned: OptioLabs acquires Oculis Labs

With Oculis Labs’ PrivateEye, this story could be for your eyes only.
The technology caught the attention of cybersecurity company OptioLabs, which announced Wednesday that it has acquired Oculis Labs.
As a result of the deal, Oculis Labs founder Bill Anderson will become OptioLabs’ chief product officer. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
For mobile-focused OptioLabs, which is based out of bwtech@UMBC’s Research & Technology Park, the acquisition represents a chance to expand its cybersecurity offerings into desktop and laptop computers.
With Hunt Valley-based Oculis Labs, Anderson developed PrivateEye and another product called Chameleon to protect against threats to data security that arise from inside an organization.
Specifically, the products use computer vision technology to secure computer screens from “visual eavesdroppers” who may be hovering over a shoulder or looking from across a room. Examples from the company show that those could be a spy, or just a nosy person you don’t want looking at your screen.
The products use “gaze-tracking” technology that can sense where the user is looking.
If the authorized user looks away or is approached by a person who comes in range of the products’ sensors, the system is designed to make material on the screen unreadable to other users.

Those products will be added to OptioLabs’ OptioCore, which provides security on mobile devices.
OptioLabs, which is a subsidiary of Allied Minds and also has offices in Washington, D.C., and Nashville, has been adding to its executive ranks lately.
The company named Gregg Smith, formerly of KoolSpan and Acuity Mobile, as CEO in December. Since then, OptioLabs has added former Samsung executive Bryan Glancey as CTO, and Senior Vice President for Corporate Development Francis Knott, who previously worked with Aether Systems.