By Yohai Einav, VeriSign Senior Fraud Researcher The FTC announced last month that is pushing back the deadline for the implementation of the "red-flag" requirements for another six months. Under the "red flags" all financial institutions must develop and implement an "Identity Theft Prevention Program", which includes "reasonable policies and procedures for detecting, preventing and mitigating identity theft". I'm pretty confident that somewhere in the world security chiefs are dancing in relief, and, on the other hand, so are many fraudsters (in their filthy underground caves). FFIEC guidance and beyond So why are fraudsters relieved? Because a well planned and implemented red flag program could actually slow the fraud business. While the 2005 FFIEC regulations (or, "...

You may have read the news over the weekend that cyber thieves raided Sarkozy's bank account and began stealing small amounts of money frequently. This marks the second high-profile online account break-in in recent weeks where an e-criminal broke in through the user name and password security function (the Palin email hack was the other). Consumers need to take full responsibility and control of their online accounts by securing them with an added layer of security, beyond a username and password. With more and more consumers putting their identities online, this type of account break-in will continue if we continue to use simple usernames and passwords. One such way to strongly secure an online account is the use of one-time passwords, also referred to as two-factor authentication. Some banks have already started rolling such measures to their customers. The recent news...

by Francis Castello, Product Manager, Identity and Authentication Services - APAC Region

According to recent research conducted by Datamonitor, around 27 per cent of 2000 respondents would never arrange any financial product online (ref. Aussies fear online fin services) . This percentage equates to around 4.2 million Australians.
The report noted that "Despite the introduction of more comprehensive security measures such as two factor authentication by the banks, there is still a significant proportion of consumers that does not use internet banking due to concerns about security,". According to Datamonitor financial services analyst Petter Ingemarsson, the issue boils down to "perceived security" rather than the actual security safety nets in place.

One group that represents a particular challenge in converting to the new medium is the over...

Today we announced that the American Bankers Association will be joining the VIP Network. We are very excited about this on many levels. Getting VIP credentials into the hands of 350 member banks creates a huge opportunity for VeriSign and makes this much more convenient for their users. ABA Members will have first hand experience with strong authentication on tools they use every day. And as this protection rolls out, ABA member banks will witness how easily they can deploy strong, two-factor authentication, and how convenient it is for their customers. We look forward to working with the ABA. Welcome to the network!