Norwegian bank alliance SpareBank 1 Gruppen is to supply customers with online authentication technology from Todos Data Systems as part of a roll-out of new EMV chip cards and digitial certification services.
Under the agreement, the Swedish firm will deliver its remote authentication solution Todos eCode during a 24 month period, to between 300 000 and 700 000 of the bank’s private customers. A first delivery for 150 000 users has been made in September. The software will be used by the bank for remote authentication of customers over the Internet and telephone.
Todos’ security solution eCode includes an application for smart cards (Todos eCode Security Application), portable smart card readers (Todos eCode Reader), and a verification server (Todos eCode Central System). The customers generate One Time Passwords (OTP) with their bankcards (where the security application has been loaded at personalisation) and the Todos eCode Reader. The unique passcode, together with a static password, achieves two-factor authentication towards the customer’s private certificate, stored in a central BankID server.
Todos eCode technology has been approved by Norwegian bank standardisation office BSK Bankenes Standardiseringskontor for end user authentication in the national BankID project.
Eldar Skjetne, Director payment services, SpareBank 1 Gruppen says: "We think that we have together with Todos Data System AB found a solution which is easy to use for the customers. With the security application hosted in the smartcard, the customer can easily see the connection between traditional payments with his/her Visa card, and the use of the same card for authentication on the Internet."
Other Todos authentication users include Swedish ICA Banken, China Construction Bank, and Raiffeisen Bank in Italy.