As the convergence towards the smartphone crystalises, the need for security commensurate to risk is paramount, and telecommunications is at the core of this capability. ValidSoft offers world-class telecommunications based security solutions, custom built for the new mobile landscape, suitable for any transaction regardless of phone type, network or geography and based on the principles of low/no friction and privacy by design.
ValidSoft was awarded the honors of “Winner: Jury Vote” at this year’s prestigious “Florin” 2013 awards (The Florin Transaction Services Innovation Awards). This award recognizes innovation in the transaction services industry.
What kind of business model does your company follow?ValidSoft is first and foremost a specialist security software company with a primary emphasis on fraud intelligence, engineering excellence, R&D and ultimately IP creation. Therefore, rather than being a sales-led organization, our GTM business model is one of channel partners, allowing us to concentrate on our core competencies as a world-leading innovator. In this regard, our prime channel to market is through our FICO/Adeptra partnership, allowing our solutions to be delivered to clients where they are most effective; integrated into the key fraud platforms they already operate and rely upon.
Could you briefly summarize the target user/market and customer demand/need your product(s) has been designed to satisfy?ValidSoft’s target user market is primarily the banking and payments sector, although we do also provide solutions to the government and health sectors, and enterprise. Within financial services, ValidSoft’s mantra is to protect all channels, and therefore the demand for our solutions cut across several divisions within a bank. Certainly, as more transactions converge on the mobile, so too will the mobile become a prime target for fraudsters. Whether it’s M-banking, mobile wallets, P2P payments or mobile remittances, providers of all of these solutions are already seeing the need to protect these channels, but in a way that doesn’t detract from the user experience. Therefore our low/no friction layered approach, incorporating both visible and invisible protection is generating great interest across the payment spectrum.
This year, ValidSoft has been awarded the ‘Winner Jury Vote’ award at the Florin Transaction Services Innovation Awards 2013. Could you elaborate a bit on the degree of innovation you deliver?ValidSofts latest authentication platform called SMART™ (Secure Mobile Architecture for Real-time Transactions) is designed to cater for the disparity in mobile networks, mobile devices, use cases and the corresponding transactional risk intrinsic in mobile payment applications. SMART achieves this by providing a layered architecture of voice and mobile network-based security protocols and technologies, both visible and invisible, to protect mobile payments, wallets and M-banking transactions alike. The techniques can be implemented singularly or in any combination, depending on the physical constraints of mobile networks and devices, as well as the individual transactional risk and potential jurisdictional factors.
Obviously a payment system based on a 2G network and 2G handsets may have less scope for additional security layers than a 4G network using smartphone technology. There will always be a lowest common denominator, however, and SMART™ is designed to protect any transaction or system, regardless of the context.
As the use of smartphones for banking and payments is continuously growing, “security and consumer privacy are paramount because fraud will certainly draw on the vulnerabilities of this new channel”, in Pat Carroll`s words. What support does Validsoft provide to address this issue?Based on the Florin recently awarded to SMART, our ability to secure transactions performed on smart-phones and the channels on which they operate is well documented. People’s privacy, however, also needs to be understood and complied with, especially within the EU, given previous practices in the US particularly, relating to personal information obtained from Smartphones. Whilst there is information that can be very useful in the fight against fraud, this information can be very sensitive and is subject to strict regulatory use. All ValidSoft products are based on the principle of “privacy by design” and we are the only security company in the world with three prestigious European Privacy Seals. These seals are a testament to our commitment to privacy and data protection principles, but also clearly demonstrate that it is possible to achieve the highest levels of security without either compromising the user experience or the privacy of the individual.
Could you please elaborate on ValidSofts Five-Factor Authentication model? What does it involve and in what way is such a model more secure?ValidSoft’s Five-factor authentication model is in line with our overall principle that the strength of authentication should be commensurate with risk. Therefore any individual factor is optional, as it may not always be required, but can be used in different combinations to suit the individual risk profiles of different transactions. However, when used in conjunction the five factors provide the highest level of security commercially available today. Along with the two traditional two-factors of something you know and have (in this case knowledge and a mobile phone), we also incorporate something you are through our leading voice biometric technology, somewhere you are (or aren’t) through our Proximity Correlation Logic and finally something you trust. This final factor can be a number of things, such as a device profile, a short life certificate or an end-point tunnel and it is this factor which can also help provide context to our voice biometric engine.
Your company has recently joined the Mobile Payments Committee of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), an international trade association representing over 500 companies who provide electronic transaction processing products and services. What does this move mean in the context of your current and future business strategy?ValidSoft joined the Mobile Payments Committee of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) in October 2012. The aim of the Committee is to bring together companies active in the mobile payments ecosystem and tackle the complex business and policy issues around mobile payments and e-commerce transactions. Security and privacy are two key issues which are up for discussion, and the Mobile Payments Committee provides an excellent forum for ValidSoft to contribute and to lead the market in these key areas. An approach to security that works in line with customer expectations, both from a usability and privacy perspective, but that also mitigates the risks of fraud is needed. As we demonstrated with our SMART® platform at the Florin Awards recently, a mobile-based, multi-factor approach is most effective, and this should combine both visible and invisible layers of security applied in real-time.
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