RISMEDIA, Dec. 3, 2007-Clareity Security, LLC, a provider of security products and services for the real estate and mortgage industries, marked a strong entry into serving the financial services security sector at the Bank Administration Institute’s Retail Delivery Systems Conference this month in Las Vegas. Clareity Security Financial Services Group (CSFSG) is now offering its patented TEXT-pass® product line to help the financial services community meet new Federal Financial Institution Examination Council (FFIEC) guidelines which require higher-level security for authenticating online customers.
TEXT-pass represents “The Next Generation of Strong Authentication” by using a customer’s mobile phone as an authentication token, rather than a single-use device such as a one-time password token. The solution generates secure, one-time passwords and transmits them directly to a customer’s cell phone via SMS message, eliminating the need for loading software on a customer’s computer or distributing hardware tokens to thousands of users.
“TEXT-pass is exactly what institutions need to meet stronger authentication requirements for online payment and funds movement,” explained CSFSG president Don Gleason. “Banks and credit unions can have hundreds of thousands, even millions of customers. Outfitting the entire customer base with hardware tokens, or hard-to-configure software, is a huge undertaking and quite simply is cost-prohibitive. Since most online banking customers already have cell phones that TEXT-pass can use for secure identification, financial institutions can now meet FFIEC requirements at a substantially lower price point.”
Recent statistics show over 70% of mobile phone customers already use text messaging as an easy and convenient way to communicate. Leveraging this expansive, existing user-base allows institutions to employ a familiar platform to increase the security of user authentication in a manner with which their customers are already comfortable. In fact, current users asked to rate TEXT-pass against a token device gave TEXT-pass an average score of nine on a scale of 10.
According to the company, based upon proven and patented two-factor, two-channel authentication, TEXT-pass provides financial institutions a secure and easily implemented first step into mobile banking. Clareity’s patent-pending TEXT-pass+(TM) solution goes a step further, providing institutions a viable way to protect customers from “man-in-the-middle” attacks. Such attacks literally hijack a customer’s online banking session to divert money into the attacker’s account, something most authentication solutions can not detect or prevent.
As ease-of-use is critical to successful adoption of any security solution, Clareity has worked to create the most customer-friendly solution possible.
According to Terry Davis, CSFSG chief security officer, client feedback proves the company’s success. “TEXT-pass is one of the easiest products I’ve ever introduced to anyone,” Davis said. “There’s no learning curve to speak of. Everyone understands it immediately. Add the fact that TEXT-pass is so easy to implement and it makes for an ideal solution for secure user authentication in financial services.”
“The response to TEXT-pass and TEXT-pass+ at the 2007 BAI show totally exceeded our expectations,” added Gleason. “Not only did we receive an overwhelming response from the U.S. financial services community, but international interest was exceptional as well. Obviously, Clareity believes strongly in the benefits these solutions provide our customers, but to have the financial services community validate these beliefs was incredibly gratifying.”
For more information, visit www.ClareitySecurity.com.
