First National Bank (FNB) is going into partnership with Prevx, a UK-based security company, to provide customers with a free, downloadable security solution.
The solution is said to monitor online activities, protect all secure socket layer sites, and detect spyware inside and outside of the browser.
The Prevx SafeOnline product is similar to the downloadable security product, Rapport, recently unveiled to their respective clients by Standard Bank and Nedbank. However, where Rapport protects a particular banking site, FNB's solution monitors all online activity and constantly scans the user's computer for threats.
FNB Online CEO Lee-Anne van Zyl explains that, originally, fraudsters relied on clients entering their details into fake banking sites, but as security has become more sophisticated, the methods of obtaining personal details have too.
Action is no longer needed by the user, as spyware and backdoor malware can obtain the information independently of the user's actions, she explains. The compromised information is no longer limited to a specific banking site, but can include any other secured site - from social media, to e-mail, to tax e-filing and credit card purchases online.
This is a concern for FNB because, according to Van Zyl, research has shown that people use identical usernames and passwords on different sites, so it is in the bank's interest to protect and detect threats on any Internet site in the browser.
This means that for multi-bank users, the solution will also protect competitors' banking sites. The software - a 1MB download - has been tested for conflict with Rapport and anti-virus software, and has been found to be complementary to these other solutions.
“There will never be a silver bullet to security,” says Van Zyl, “the best answer is different layers of protection.”
Unlike Rapport, Prevx SafeOnline is currently only available to Windows users, and only operates in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera. The bank promises a solution for Mac and Linux users by the end of the year.
The free downloadable version of Prevx's solution is designed to protect a user's PC from online attacks only. Should a user choose to deploy the solution as their primary anti-virus software, they will have to upgrade the product, at a cost of $26.95, as the free version will merely identify threats found on a user's hard drive, but will not remove them.
FNB says that part of the reason the solution was chosen is that it communicates details of the threat with the client directly. If the client has another solution or anti-virus product installed, the Prevx solution will pick up on it and inform the user to use it to remove the threat. FNB assures that it receives no kick-back from upgrades.
“They are experts in spyware; we are experts in banking. It made sense for us to partner with them to protect our clients,” says Van Zyl.
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