Secure USB Authentication:
The combination of online banking's rising popularity and the increasing number of online services offered by financial organizations indicates an extremely bright future for e-banking. However, to maximize such potential, financial institutions and banks must overcome a major obstacle: banks identity theft. ID theft, particularly phishing, is rapidly spreading worldwide, and straining the mutual trust between financial institutions and their customers that is a prerequisite for secure online banking to avoid banking identity theft. With identity theft leading to significant financial losses and decreased customer usage of online banking services, it is one issue that cannot be ignored.
Many financial organizations are looking to implement proactive security measures to combat bank identity theft. Strong authentication - the use of more than one factor to identify users accessing private networks and applications - is among today's leading choices. USB strong authentication tokens with builtin smartcard technology, in particular, are taking banking security to another level. By enabling easy and secure implementation of certificate-based security applications, these tokens provide banks with not only strong authentication, but also the foundation for implementing end-to-end security and a range of secure online services to customers.
By creating a secure environment and improving security controls at every point in the banking infrastructure - from internal access through external access to sensitive data - USB tokens combat identity theft and fraud, while helping banks meet regulatory compliance. And by enabling secure money transfers, loan applications, stock trading, and other services online via strong authentication and digital signing capabilities, USB tokens raise revenues, increase customer acquisition and retention, reduce operating costs, and deliver a rapid and high ROI for banks.
Toward a More Secure Banking Environment:
It may be difficult for financial institutions to avoid banking identity theft and their customers to envision a world where their information and transactions are secure from threats like phishing and insider identity theft. However, such identity theft solutions for banks exist today:
Banks Identity Thefts Solutions:
- Secure, trusted connectivity between a financial organization and each and every customer.
- The same strong, easy-to-use security utilized in ATM transactions for online banking, giving banks the confidence that customers who appear to be conducting transactions are indeed those conducting such transactions.
- Confidence to customers that their privacy, identity and financial assets are not being compromised.
- Tight and enforceable security controls wherever valuable customer information resides, from internal databases to mobile devices such as laptops.
- The ability for banks to securely offer all of their services online - from foreign exchange through money transfers to mortgages.
- The same level of customer confidence and sense of security with e-banking as with bricks-and-mortar banking, thereby increasing online banking service usage.
By securing their networks and data with strong authentication technology, financial institutions can turn this world into a reality.
The Identity Theft Phishing:
One of the major ID theft culprits is phishing, a fast-growing type of online fraud. In phishing schemes, "e-thieves" steal confidential data such as passwords, credit card numbers and user IDs from individuals, typically by setting up counterfeit Web sites designed to deceive them into submitting their personal credentials.
Banks Idetity Theft: Hardest Hit
Financial institutions are the most vulnerable, and hardest hit, victims of phishing. According to the APWG, the financial services sector is consistently the most targeted industry for phishing attacks, with financial institutions representing 15 of the top 20 organizations targeted by such attacks in 2004.
With nearly 60% of U.S. consumers worried about identity theft, according switched to a to Financial Insights, it is clear that the phenomenon is taking its toll on the different bank online banking industry. According to the same report, for example, 6% of due to identity
U.S. consumers went as far as switching their bank to reduce the risk of falling theft concerns victim to ID theft. And a JupiterResearch study concludes that 27% of all online banking customers use less online functionality due to security concerns, and 31% of all online users will not bank online at all as a result.
