TechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine. Dark Reading Resource Library Black Hat News Omdia Cybersecurity Advertise NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP Cybersecurity Topics World The Edge DR Technology Events Resources CYBER RISK News, news analysis, and commentary on the latest trends in cybersecurity technology. TransUnion's Real Networks Deal Focuses on Robocall Blocking The acquisition allows the credit reporting agency to add SMS spam and scam prevention to its robocall blocking capabilities. Jeffrey Schwartz, Contributing Writer February 9, 2026 2 Min Read SOURCE: ROGER BAMBER VIA ALAMY STOCK PHOTO NEWS BRIEF TransUnion's announcement last week to acquire Real Networks' mobile division shows the credit reporting agency is focusing on enhanced voice and SMS fraud protection services for businesses. As part of the acquisition, TransUnion gains the Kontxt platform + Metcalf infrastructure, an artificial intelligence-driven messaging suite to secure mobile carrier traffic. This will allow TransUnion to expand Trusted Call Solutions, its offering that protects businesses from call spoofing, launched in partnership with AT&T in 2024. TransUnion will integrate Kontxt with Trusted Call Solutions, to be renamed Trusted Communications Solutions, to underscore the focus on SMS, multimedia and voice networks. “We want to have scale in an omni-channel fashion,” says James Garvert, senior VP of communications solutions. “This asset in this acquisition will help us start moving into the text messaging world as well.” Related:Tenable Tackles AI Governance, Shadow AI Risks, Data Exposure LOADING... The deal covers only the mobile assets. Real Networks will retain its streaming communications and Secure Accurate Facial Recognition (SAFR) businesses. TransUnion cited a Jupiter Research report estimating losses from mobile phone fraud worldwide to exceed $80 billion in 2025. Real Networks launched Kontxt in 2017, initially as a text messaging categorization and prioritization offering for mobile carriers, and added Kontxt Voice in 2021 to help carriers detect and block robocalls. The company has established integration partnerships with various mobile operators worldwide, including Verizon, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank, Telefonica, KDDI, Vivo, and SK Telekom. Kontxt can detect devices and individuals sending unregistered bulk traffic or engaging in suspicious campaign patterns. It performs cross-channel correlation to identify when the same phone or device is used in suspicious SMS campaigns, voice calls or anomalous web sessions. Kontxt has an anomaly-detection stack in the network and application layers that classifies and blocks fraudulent messages and calls. It also applies voice‑fingerprinting to detect robocallers and performs real-time intent classification, Real Networks said. Kontxt's machine learning models are trained on large volumes of telco traffic designed to detect spam messages and voice calls. Real Networks claims a 78% blocking rate, with the rate improving as it gains more training data and models. In addition to expanding its fraud protection portfolio, TransUnion offers a Device Risk offering that associates identities with devices and matches them with network signals to monitor behavior. In December, TransUnion added new capabilities, including cross-session device identification, to recognize and track devices across multiple sessions and networks without requiring cookies. TransUnion also introduced adaptive machine learning capabilities to boost device fraud protection and advanced anomaly and evasion detection, designed to detect remote access tools and automated bots that could be used to manipulate users. Related:New Tech Deployments That Cyber Insurers Recommend for 2026 TransUnion declined to specify how Kontxt may integrate with Device Risk. "Ultimately, these are all roadmap capabilities or items that we're intertwining in our comprehensive fraud portfolio," Garvert says. The acquisition is set to close in the first half of 2026. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read more about: News Briefs About the Author Jeffrey Schwartz Contributing Writer Jeffrey Schwartz is a journalist who has covered information security and all forms of business and enterprise IT, including client computing, data center and cloud infrastructure, and application development for more than 30 years. Jeff is a regular contributor to Channel Futures. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Redmond magazine and contributed to its sister titles Redmond Channel Partner, Application Development Trends, and Virtualization Review. Earlier, he held editorial roles with CommunicationsWeek, InternetWeek, and VARBusiness. Jeff is based in the New York City suburb of Long Island. 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