Regulators force banks to 2-factor authentication

Banking websites are going to need to improve their security and update their authentication methods at the behest of US federal regulators, who are claiming that security needs go beyond simply using passwords, which have become increasingly simple for hackers and other Internet criminals to take advantage of.

US regulators have demanded that banking websites implement a two-factor authentication system by the end of 2006. This demand was communicated to the banks when regulators from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council sent them a letter earlier in October.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council has also put forward the idea that financial institutions should make use of software or technology that can plot a user’s physical location and compare that information to the information on file regarding the user’s physical address. One of the most prominent ways in which theft of classified information occurs is through phishing. According to the Anti-Phishing Working group, 13,776 different types of phishing attacks were recorded during August.

CATEGORIES: 1e-commerce, 1id theft, 1phishing, 1passwords, 1 regulation, 1compliance