SafeNet (News - Alert), a global information security companies, has introduced a new optical signing device, eToken 3500, which aims to resolve risks and frauds associated with online banking and trading transactions. As this device requires electronic signing and strong authentication, financial companies will see great benefits when using this device for eBanking applications.

Andrew Young, vice president of Authentication, SafeNet, said in a statement, “Forward-thinking financial services institutions need to approach authentication in a way that goes beyond simply verifying the identity of the user, which can be faked. To combat fraud and manage risk, customers need transaction protection and signing solutions that ensure the transaction itself is validated”

“SafeNet’s portfolio of identity and transaction solutions, including the eToken 3500, is purpose-built to address the unique risk requirements of financial services, delivering the appropriate levels of protection during the transaction lifecycle without impeding the customer experience,” he added.

The eToken 3500 has an optical sensor that decodes financial data from a Web browser and generates a special electronic signature which validates and secures each transaction. This reduces threats from hijackers who use Man-in-the-Browser (MitB) and Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) methods to redirect funds illegitimately. Another interesting feature of the optical device is that it can automatically scan the transaction data without the need for manual intervention, and this instead reduces potential manual errors.

Avivah Litan, vice president and distinguished analyst, Gartner (News - Alert) Research, said, “Malware-based attacks against bank customers and employees are levying severe reputational and financial damage on their victims. Fighting these and future types of attacks requires a layered fraud prevention approach.”

Litan recommended, “Organizations should deploy both secure browsing and out-of-band or dedicated hardware transaction verification for high-risk transactions as complementary measures to existing authentication method.”

eToken 3500 helps reduce online banking fraud as it validates that each transaction is made by a legitimate customer, as well as addresses the issues of forgotten, stolen, or hacked passwords, reducing the risk of identity theft.

In another development, SafeNet recently launched a NSA-certified Ethernet security and bandwidth management solution, which should reduce the burden of network security and simplifies network architecture.

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