Oracle has agreed to acquire Bharosa, a provider of software designed to combat online identity theft and fraud. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The database firm said that it will add some of Bharosa's Tracker and Authenticator real-time fraud prevention capabilities to its existing web-based single sign-on and authorisation offerings.

"Companies need new mechanisms that complement existing security solutions to better protect themselves from insider threats and misuse from privileged users, " said Bharosa chief executive Jon Fisher.

Hasan Rizvi, vice president of identity management and security products at Oracle, added: "We expect Oracle and Bharosa to provide enterprises with a comprehensive identity management solution that integrates proactive real-time fraud prevention."

Bharosa's Tracker and Authenticator software will continue to be available on a standalone basis with integrations for Oracle and non-Oracle environments as well as integrated with Oracle Identity Management.

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in August 2007.