Elephant Talk Communications' ValidSoft Announces Commercial Release of Four-Factor Authentication Solution
- Elephant Talk Communications, Inc. (OTC.BB:ETAK - News) (www.elephanttalk.com), an international provider of business software and services to the telecommunications and financial services industries, today announced that ValidSoft Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, released its commercially available Four-factor authentication solution; VALid-4F™. The technology is the world's first commercially available Four-factor authentication solution utilizing a single integrated platform.
Four-factor authentication comprises the traditional factors of "something you know," "something you have," and "something you are" with the additional dimension of "somewhere you are." In the case of the latter, ValidSoft use its unique anonymous proximity correlation logic, VALid-POS®, which was awarded the European Privacy Seal in March 2010, european-privacy-seal.eu, certifying its compliance with European Data Protection law and enabling Issuing Banks to implement on an "Opt-Out" basis only. ValidSoft is the first, and remains the only, security software company in the world to be awarded the European Privacy Seal for its flagship card fraud detection and prevention solution VALid-POS® which can save banks hundreds of millions of dollars a year by helping to determine whether credit and debit card transactions are legitimate or fraudulent. Visa Europe recently issued a press release reporting how ValidSoft can assist Visa Europe with sophisticated fraud detection and prevention with its solutions VALid-POS® and VALid®: visaeurope.com
"We believe the addition of location information as the fourth factor of the strong authentication model is both a logical and increasingly necessary progression. As the Internet connected world increasingly becomes mobile, the need for jurisdiction enforcement in a variety of scenarios requires more than just knowing who's connected; it's also necessary to know where they're connecting from," says Avivah Litan, a Vice President and Distinguished Analyst in Gartner Research.
Litan's area of expertise includes financial fraud, authentication, access management, identity proofing, identity theft, fraud detection and prevention applications. ValidSoft recently
signed a contract with Visa Europe and was mentioned in the Gartner Blog Network with Avivah Litan -- reference blogs.gartner.com.
Far from adding an additional factor simply for differentiation purposes, ValidSoft is already seeing the commercial demand for strong authentication solutions that incorporate the key component of proximity information. This crucial proximity information is typically concerned with users being outside of a specific jurisdiction, rather than requiring their specific whereabouts.
"We are seeing client requirements for systems as diverse as card related fraud detection and prevention, online trading platforms and state benefit/welfare self-certification, but with a common requirement for jurisdiction validation," said Pat Carroll, CEO of ValidSoft Limited. "In an electronic and telecommunications technology based world, it is increasingly imperative for many organizations to know whether transactions or authorisations being processed are emanating from legal jurisdictions."
ValidSoft is currently implementing a state welfare self-certification solution for a European government that utilizes ValidSoft's Voice Biometrics and jurisdiction validation capability. The solution is designed to generate administrative cost savings and efficiencies through the use of technology to enable "self certification" by beneficiaries of state welfare payments. Participants will no longer need to report in person at local government offices to certify their eligibility for the state payment. Instead they Opt-In to an automated program that uses core technologies such as voice biometrics to authenticate the identity of the individual and anonymous proximity correlation to verify that they are not outside the jurisdiction in order to qualify for receipt of payment. Other tests such as "liveness" guard against fraud and ensure that the individual is genuinely at the end of the call. When live, this implementation will be one of the largest voice biometric implementations in the world and has already generated considerable interest amongst other European Governments.
Valid-4F™, apart from having a fully integrated proximity engine based on the global mobile telephone network, also boasts its own biometric Voice Verification engine, providing the highest level of user authentication available through its use of text-dependent, text-independent and conversational voice verification. Coupled with its Out-of-Band authentication and transaction-verification model, VALid-4F™ provides all four authentication factors utilising a single consumer device, the mobile phone.
Mr. Carroll continued, "The customer wants convenience. However, the service provider, be it a government, financial institution or retailer needs the strongest authentication and transaction verification available. ValidSoft together with its parent company Elephant Talk deliver both through the most consumer convenient method possible -- the ubiquitous mobile phone." |
