Banks nearing agreement on Web security
Published: 14 Apr 2005 16:05 BST
High Street banks are set to agree on a physical security device for all UK online customers to use.
This move to two-factor authentication, using physical security devices that generate a password to be used only once, could make customers more secure when banking online.
Identity theft emails, known as phishing attacks, cost banks £12m last year, according to the Association of Payment and Clearing Systems (APACS). Precise details of this two-factor device should be agreed on in May, with the banks expected to roll out devices within nine to 12 months.
"We are looking to get a UK standard for next month," said a spokesman for APACS. "We are hoping this will enable us to make rapid progress. It would also be good to get a global standard like Chip and PIN."
APACS said that Barclaycard and the high-profile bank Coutts has already issued some customers with identity devices.
Last year, former White House cybersecurity advisor Howard Schmidt urged banks to use issue customers with two-factor authentication. Schmidt is the chief security strategist of online auction eBay, which itself has yet to issue bidders with two-factor authentication devices.
Not everyone is so sure that two-factor authentication is the way forward, however. "People are selling two-factor authentication as the solution to our current identity-theft problems, but it was designed to solve the issues from 10 years ago," said security expert Bruce Schneier last month.
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6 comments
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"It would also be good to get a global standard li... Samuel -
Of course a biometric can be stolen. All you... Steve J -
What a load of rubbish, look steve if so... Samuel -
Samuel
I think you may have missed... Anonymous
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The whole security issue is ab... Samuel
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Security with NO new gadgets for cards/internet.
O... Dean Procter
