uMonitor, BANKDetect partner for online banking

US online banking services provider uMonitor enters a partnership with financial technology company BANKDetect to integrate and market their services jointly for their financial industry customers.

Under the terms of the agreement, uMonitor’s online account opening and funding service uOpen & uFund is to incorporate a series of ID control tools from BANKDetect in order to meet government regulatory compliance standards. Among the security measures to be implemented are the verification of customer name, address, telephone number, area code and social security number, as well as a series of indicators which have been designed to prevent identity theft, generically known as ‘red flags’.

Representatives of the two companies indicate that the joint uMonitor and BANKDetect financial services package mainly targets community banks and credit unions, aiming to achieve integration with the latter’s existing core processing platforms, online banking services and loan approval systems. Also, the combined uMonitor and BANKDetect service also aims to allow financial companies to accumulate the amount of customer information needed to prevent identity theft and deploy anti-money laundering measures.

Mobile Banking May Be Telecom's Killer App

With increasing consumer familiarity and growing ease of use, mobile applications for financial services companies--particularly banks--could become the new "killer app" for telecommunications .

The number of people banking through a mobile device could hit half a billion worldwide by 2013, according to ABI Research. "Mobile financial services have the potential to be bigger than mobile TV and premium mobile content in terms of numbers of subscribers," Mark Beccue, senior analyst of consumer mobility, tells Marketing Daily. "Everybody's trying to do it, and they're all scrambling."

The drive for more and better mobile financial services applications is being fed by consumers who are becoming more accustomed to banking online. "The lowest-hanging fruit are the online customers," Beccue says. "That's one of the only barriers to mobile banking; if you don't trust online, you won't trust mobile."

Sophisticated attack targets online banking

While online banking sites may appear to be more secure than most sites, some cybercriminals are apparently taking advantage of that idea and sending phony popup messages when users are logged into their account.

The in-session phishing attack asks the user to retype their username and password under the guise of their online banking session expiring, DarkReading.com reports. This may be particularly successful since many banks, such as Bank of America, have a set time for banking sessions and will log users off for security reasons.

Researchers said evidence of the attack in the wild hasn't been seen, but they "have witnessed precursors to it," according to the article.
Cybercriminals use malicious JavaScript to see the banking site URL where the victim is logged in and then generates a popup message posing as the bank, states DarkReading.com. The popup can also be a customer satisfaction survey or a special promotion.

Metrobank Partners With IBM to Enhance Online Banking Security

Metrobank, one of the largest private banks in the Philippines, has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) to integrate and implement an advanced security solution for its Metrobankdirect, an Internet banking facility.

The agreement, signed in November 2008, will see IBM Internet Security Systems deploy the Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) security solution by which the user provides a second means of identification in order to obtain access to Metrobank's online banking facility. IBM brings its proven project management methodology and technical expertise, integrated with VASCO's authentication token solution and Data Security Systems Solutions' strong authentication and token management solutions for the implementation of this project.

Next-generation phishing attacks online banking

An advanced new phishing attack tricks users into giving away confidential information after they have logged on to an online banking website.

Most computer users are familiar with email phishing, where they are sent emails with links to fraudulent websites. This new “in-session phishing” attack differs because it creates pop-ups while you're in session with your real online banking account, asking for details such as passwords and account numbers.

Attackers compromise the website, inserting code to create the pop-up. Since the user had just recently logged onto the banking website, they may not suspect that the pop-up is fraudulent

Metrobank Partners With IBM to Enhance Online Banking Security

(Marketwire) -- 01/16/09 -- Metrobank, one of the largest private banks in the Philippines, has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) to integrate and implement an advanced security solution for its Metrobankdirect, an Internet banking facility.

The agreement, signed in November 2008, will see IBM Internet Security Systems deploy the Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) security solution by which the user provides a second means of identification in order to obtain access to Metrobank's online banking facility. IBM brings its proven project management methodology and technical expertise, integrated with VASCO's authentication token solution and Data Security Systems Solutions' strong authentication and token management solutions for the implementation of this project.