By Ed Russo From The Register-Guard

Info@risk, a Eugene firm that tests the information security systems of business and government agencies, has been acquired by a San Francisco-based accounting firm.

BPM, with six offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and offices in Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands, has purchased Info@risk for an undisclosed amount, according to both companies.

Info@risk founder and former owner David Trepp on Friday said the 21-employee firm will remain in Eugene.

“All positions will remain in effect” and the purchase will “likely accelerate our growth,” he said. “We are advertising for additional positions right now.”

Trepp, who has become a partner in BPM, said Info@Risk provides so-called “penetration testing”

of computer systems, networks or web applications to find vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers and others intent on causing problems.

“We test the effectiveness of our customers’ security controls,” he said.

Info@risk also evaluates building security for customers and conducts tests to see how their employees would respond to attempts at breaching information technology security, Trepp said.

Info@risk customers include banks, credit unions, healthcare companies and government agencies, such as police departments,

“All of those industries are required to have their security controls tested, so we can go in and do that testing,” Trepp said.

Since its inception in 1998 as part of InfoGroup Northwest, a Eugene-based computer systems integrator,

Info@risk said it has conducted more than 1,200 penetration tests for financial institutions, public utilities, commercial enterprises, health care institutions and government entities nationwide.

Info@risk was spun off from InfoGroup Northwest in 2004. At the time, Info@risk had eight employees.

Trepp was chief executive until July 1, when it became part of BPM.

In a press release, BPM CEO Jim Wallace said that when he met Trepp and Info@risk employees, “we knew we had discovered a firm that is committed to the success of its people and clients consistent with our culture and mission.”

Info@risk is a “natural fit” with BPM’s information technology audit and compliance division, “allowing us to better serve both our current and future clients,” Wallace said.

For more on this story go to: http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/35747004-75/eugene-based-tech-security-company-acquired-by-bay-area-firm.html.csp

IMAGE: BPM