Concerns about the security of mobile banking offerings in SA are totally unfounded.
That`s the word from Mark Currie, product manager: m-Commerce Security at Prism Secure Solutions, a subsidiary of JSE-listing Prism Holdings, which developed the security system surrounding the recently launched Absa-Vodacom mobile banking service.
"Prism`s state-of-the-art wireless security solution combines standard banking encryption techniques to secure the PIN used by mobile banking customers with a secondary `blanket security` layer. This encrypts all transaction messages between the mobile phone and Absa which means that even if the message is intercepted, it would be meaningless to anyone without the means to `crack` the encryption code.
"In addition, because over-the-air transaction requests and confirmations use Vodacom`s Short Message Service (SMS) bearer service as the communications mechanism, Prism can use the mobile phone`s SIM card to provide strong `hardware-based` security between phone and bank," he explains.
Indeed, Currie maintains, the use of the mobile phone offers some unique security advantages over ATM or Internet banking methods.
Firstly, you do not have to rely on the security of a separate terminal (ATM or PC) to handle your PIN. Your PIN is entered and secured directly on your own phone using your own personal tamper-resistant hardware security device (your SIM card).
Secondly, apart from having a banking PIN which enables access to your accounts, you also have to know the PIN code that allows normal usage of the phone. The phone-enabling PIN code is actually used to provide access to the SIM.
"This means that if your SIM is lost or stolen, your unique security keys cannot be read from the SIM without entering the correct enabling PIN code.
"Another security advantage is that you can choose where and when you want to conduct your banking transactions. You don`t have to go to an ATM or an Internet-enabled PC where your PIN entry could possibly be observed," he adds.
Prism`s mobile banking security solution is part of the company`s greater m-Commerce strategy to provide payment security products and solutions in the wireless sector. Prism is already involved in large projects with Asia-Pacific wireless operators to provide a wide range of mobile payment security services.
"The next step in Prism`s and its partners` m-commerce services will allow greater scope of transactivity by supporting real-time payments to third parties such as purchasing a movie ticket - or an airline ticket - from your cellphone.
"Prism is uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive award-winning m-commerce solutions by combining its wide in-house experience in each of the applicable transaction technologies. These include customised m-commerce-enabled SIM cards, high-performance hardware security devices, transaction-oriented SMS switching servers and a wide range of electronic payment products," Currie concludes.
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