July 18, 2005

Bank of America Adds New Online Security

The Associated Press writes that Bank of America has a new authentication system. This system has been talked about for some time now and is similar to using an RSA Key Fob by providing you with one time authentication that changes every time you log into your account, but it overcomes the problem and cost associated with distributing and managing thousands of key fobs. Good going! Of course, ING Direct has had a similar system for years.

    In February, Bank of America disclosed that it lost computer data tapes containing personal information on 1.2 million federal employees, including some members of the U.S. Senate. The lost data included social security numbers and account information.
    In May, Bank of America and Wachovia Corp. were forced to alert more than 100,000 customers when New Jersey police charged nine people, including seven bank workers, in a plot to steal financial records of thousands of bank customers.

    Instead of the traditional user name-password setup, SiteKey users select one of a thousand different images, write a brief phrase and pick three challenge questions.

    The challenge questions - all things that only the customer would be able to provide, such as the year and model of their first car - are then used along with a customer ID and a passcode to guard access to the account.

Posted by volubis at July 18, 2005 05:57 PM | TrackBack