Mobile payments, the rise of digital currency and several other trends in financial management have combined to create a relatively tumultuous security landscape for a variety of organizations and many consumers. Financial data, especially credit, debit, checking and savings account numbers, is extremely sensitive and can be used to quickly steal money or identities, while the damages that victimized firms experience are substantial.
As data breaches continue to strike retailers, payment processors and consumers, banks are beginning to get a bit more serious about their privacy protection and access management strategies. Multi-factor authentication is one of the more effective options, while bank executives and other major financial players are working to think outside of the box and protect their assets more consistently.
Royal Canadian Mint's big announcement
The Royal Canadian Mint, which creates and disburses the entirety of Canada's coins, recently announced that it has chosen SecureKey's briidge.net Connect Platform to provide device-based multi-factor authentication for its MintChip currency. MintChip is one of the first nationally recognized cloud-based digital currencies, and is already starting to be used by a variety of companies and consumers in the North America.
Recent studies have indicated that Canada is leading the way in terms of mobile payment and banking adoption, outpacing the United States in various segments, including digital wallets and contactless transactions. SecureKey's highly intuitive and effective multi-factor authentication has been found to bolster the user experience while strengthening the actual performance of privacy, data, device and network protection.
"SecureKey offered us a robust multi-platform solution that delivers a very high level of device security while providing MintChip consumers with a convenient, familiar payment experience," Marc Brûlé, chief emerging payments officer at the Royal Canadian Mint, explained. "SecureKey's experience in providing strong, unobtrusive local device authentication was another key factor in our decision. We look forward to working with SecureKey to help ensure the success of the next pilot phase of our MintChip digital currency."
One of the biggest advantages of the briidge.net Connect Mobile authentication solution is that the SDK is embedded directly into the mobile application, allowing the MintChip to identify the mobile device and connect the consumer's cloud account with a protected user ID.
SecureKey has been highly active in the digital currency game. Individuals who would like to hear more about this should consider registering for a March 27 webinar entitled "Banking 2020: mCommerce, Virtual Money, and Privacy. Are you ready?" by following this link.
U.S. bank makes a statement
Bank Info Security recently reported that HSBC, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, announced that it is requiring retail banking customers to use multi-factor authentication. According to the news provider, the bank hopes this step will make better use of the protective tools currently available and shield it from a major breach caused by other parties.
Financial institutions of all kinds, especially those tackling more advanced mobile payment and banking strategies, can benefit from taking a similar approach to authentication and access management.