ARM, G&D secure smartphone transactions

Chip design company ARM and German banking security company Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) have signed a partnership which they say will lead to more secure smartphone-based online transactions, reports ZDNet UK.

The agreement centres on ARM's TrustZone technology and G&D's Mobicore secure operating system. Already built into ARM system-on-a-chip designs such as Cortex-A9, TrustZone is a secure area used for digital transactions and digital rights management.

In a statement, the companies said their combined technology would make it possible to enter usernames, passwords and other sensitive information into a smartphone while making sure that malware cannot see or manipulate that data.

Nearly three-quarters of online banking users are putting the security of their accounts at risk by re-using their passwords at other, less secure sites, says Out-Law. Nearly half use both their usernames and passwords at other sites, increasing the security risk.

The maker of a piece of software that claims to help Web users increase their security has analysed the activity of four million users of its Rapport software. It found that 73% of those users use one password for online banking and other non-financial Web sites and that 47% reuse both their online banking username and password for other sites.

The company behind Rapport, Trusteer, said this was dangerous because criminals could obtain usernames and passwords more easily from less secure non-banking sites and attempt to use them at financial services sites to potentially devastating effect.

CIBC has introduced a mobile banking application which gives CIBC clients the flexibility to use their iPhone or iPod touch to check account balances, transfer funds, pay bills and even send Interac e-mail money transfers, states Investment Executive.

“CIBC is proud to be the first major bank in Canada to offer our clients a mobile banking app to make banking with CIBC even more flexible on their iPhone,” says Sonia Baxendale, president CIBC retail markets.

The new mobile banking app also uses GPS technology in the iPhone to help clients find their nearest branch or ABM based on their current location.