NEWS BRIEF TransUnion is concentrating on improving voice and SMS fraud protection services for businesses, as evidenced by its announcement last week that it would buy Real Networks' mobile division. The Kontxt platform and Metcalf infrastructure, an AI-powered messaging suite designed to protect mobile carrier traffic, are acquired by TransUnion as part of the deal. This will enable TransUnion to grow its Trusted Call Solutions product, which was introduced in 2024 in collaboration with AT&T and safeguards companies against call spoofing.

To emphasize the emphasis on SMS, multimedia, and voice networks, TransUnion will combine Kontxt with Trusted Call Solutions, which will be rebranded as Trusted Communications Solutions. James Garvert, senior vice president of communications solutions, states, "We want to have scale in an omni-channel fashion."

"This acquisition asset will assist us in beginning our foray into the text messaging space as well." Related: Tenable Addresses Data Exposure, Shadow AI Risks, and AI Governance Only the mobile assets are covered by the agreement. Real Networks will continue to operate its Secure Accurate Facial Recognition (SAFR) and streaming communications businesses.

According to a Jupiter Research study cited by TransUnion, global losses from mobile phone fraud are expected to surpass $80 billion by 2025. Kontxt was first introduced by Real Networks in 2017 as a text messaging classification and prioritization tool for mobile carriers. In 2021, Kontxt Voice was added to assist carriers in identifying and blocking robocalls. Verizon, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank, Telefonica, KDDI, Vivo, and SK Telekom are just a few of the global mobile operators with which the company has formed integration partnerships.

Devices and people sending bulk unsanctioned traffic or exhibiting questionable campaign patterns can be identified by Kontxt. To determine when the same phone or device is used in questionable SMS campaigns, voice calls, or unusual web sessions, it uses cross-channel correlation. In order to identify and stop fraudulent calls and messages, Kontxt has an anomaly-detection stack in both the network and application layers.

According to Real Networks, it also uses voice fingerprinting to identify robocallers and classifies intent in real time. Large amounts of telecom traffic are used to train Kontxt's machine learning models, which are intended to identify voice calls and spam messages. According to Real Networks, its blocking rate is 78%, and it gets better as it acquires more models and training data.

TransUnion provides a Device Risk offering that links identities to devices and compares them with network signals to track behavior, in addition to broadening its fraud protection portfolio. TransUnion introduced new features in December, such as cross-session device identification, which allows devices to be identified and tracked across networks and sessions without the need for cookies. Additionally, TransUnion added advanced anomaly and evasion detection, which is intended to identify automated bots and remote access tools that could be used to manipulate users, as well as adaptive machine learning capabilities to strengthen device fraud protection.

Related: Cyber Insurers' Suggested New Technology Deployments for 2026 TransUnion did not elaborate on how Kontxt might work with Device Risk. According to Garvert, "in the end, these are all roadmap capabilities or items that we're intertwining in our comprehensive fraud portfolio."

The first half of 2026 is when the acquisition is expected to close. The deal's financial details were not made public.