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Aladdin Knowledge Systems, an information security solutions provider, plans to increase the use of two-factor authentication amongst Indian banks.
The company, which has currently deployed its USB-token based authentication solution for internal use by Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank, is looking to extend the usage to external customers as well.
“The current challenge for banks is that there is no common authentication management system. With One Time Password (OTP) devices and time-based USB tokens, authentication security can be managed centrally with a single server,” said Shailendra Sahasrabudhe, Country Manager, Aladdin. The systems existing in most banks currently take a username-password approach for allowing transactions on their sites. Although most banks provide encrypted data transmission, such single-factor authentication systems are vulnerable to phishing attacks and password stealth.
The tokens Aladdin provides aim to resolve this issue with digital certificates that are verified by the bank’s server every time the user logs into the system. At the user end, the browser asks for username and password which is a random number generated by the OTP. Simultaneously, the user is also required to have the USB token attached to the system. The token, equipped with a cryptographic chip, generates a digital signature which, along with the password, is sent to the bank’s server for verification. The certificate is verified each time the user tries to access a particular service. The customer can complete the transaction only if both the means of authentication – password and digital certificate – are available.
The above approach particularly aims to handle phishing issues where hackers can obtain passwords by deploying a phishing site that looks similar to the bank’s website. Even if a hacker manages to obtain the password the absence of the USB token will mean the user will not be issued any digital certificate, thus blocking access to the bank’s system and thwarting the hacker’s attempt.
Besides banks, Aladdin, which at present has 7 lakh tokens deployed, plans to sell its solutions to other segments such as retail and software services.
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