Last updated: 19 March 2014
Online trust is now a national priority in the United States, and banks’ face-to-face connection with clients positions banks as an identity broker, but only if they get identity authentication right.
In April, President Obama approved the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) directive. The initiative calls for a national identity ecosystem that restores trust in online identities. While there are hundreds of millions of anonymous identities from Facebook to Gmail to Open ID, banks are one of the few groups that have millions of clients they actually know. If U.S. banks can arrive at a way to strongly authenticate identities online, by using personal identity devices for example, they will position their industry as a strong identity broker in the emerging private sector-centric identity ecosystem sponsored by the Obama administration.
To sum up, as an eBanker, online fraud is not something you can eliminate; however, you can take effective measures to better protect your customers and your business by adding a digital security device for high-value transactions. As you can see, there are many reasons for taking this important step and making it a high priority for your online banking operations.
If you’re an online banker, here are three questions you should be discussing with your team:
1. Would you allow PIN-only ATM withdrawals?
Imagine if a bank customer could step up to an ATM enter her PIN number and get money without an ATM card at all. Doesn’t seem very prudent, but if you think about it, that’s about what username and password security is like. Except a cyber thief doesn’t even have the go to the ATM. He can use the Internet.
2. Will moving more transactions and business processes online increase your profitability?
If growing the online channel is a key element of your future, higher levels of authentication, digital signature and trust are essential.
3. Is relying on your customers to protect their own endpoint security a sustainable strategy?
Your online banking security today depends on your customers maintaining an up-to-date IT infrastructure and educating all of their employees not to fall for phishing, Trojan downloads, social engineering and other traps set by hackers.
See parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 of the 5 reasons banks should deploy digital security devices and also visit www.ebankingsecurity.net for advice on deploying online banking security.
