Entersekt and EbankIT Team to Offer Banks Biometric Authentication

Entersekt and digital banking platform EbankIT teamed to provide new security measures for financial institutions.

The companies’ new solution offers banks and credit unions biometric authentication and protection against several account takeover fraud schemes, while also reducing contact center operational costs, according to a Tuesday (Oct. 24) press release.

“Forward-looking digital banking providers are recognizing the evolving threats and financial impact of fraud on their institution and their customers,” Entersekt CEO Schalk Nolte said in the release. “A core tenet of our go-to-market strategy is partnering with, and enabling, leading digital banking platforms like EbankIT with the most advanced authentication technologies on the market today.”

Entersekt’s platform offers authentication of customers and payments and gives financial institutions (FIs) safer authentication alternatives to SMS one-time passcodes (OTPs), “which have seen an alarming uptick in exploits over the last year,” the release said.

PYMNTS discussed this trend last month with Greg Esser, director of strategic partnerships in the U.S. at Entersekt.

“Man-in-the-middle attacks can easily defeat one-time passcodes,” said Esser, pointing out that emails sent with seemingly innocent links can trick unwitting recipients into clicking and give hackers access to communications and back-office systems.

From there, scammers can impersonate banking executives, chief financial officers or IRS officials and get usernames and passwords from victims. Then they shift to the banking site, send an OTP asking for authentication, and attain complete access to the accounts.

Working with providers and platforms can reduce dependency on OTPs delivered via mobile SMS and email, and create a better consumer experience, Esser told PYMNTS.

But no matter the approach the FI takes, said Esser, “the focus should really be on how the cardholder normally authenticates themselves instead of introducing a new solution that the customer might even think is fraud. Then they call the bank, and the bank’s call center volume goes up,” and operational expenses go up as well.

Tuesday’s partnership announcement came one day after Entersekt teamed with Mexican FinTech Plata to provide authentication services for its new credit card. The collaboration will allow for low-friction payment authentication with “risk-aware 3D Secure,” a burgeoning regulatory requirement.