News

03.01.2008
Valimo's Mobile Signature Solution Successfully Demonstrated in Australia
Mobile Signatures were demonstrated to five of the six largest banks in the country, two government departments, and several members of the Australian banking and finance industry.

Valimo has successfully conducted a Proof of Concept (POC) of its Mobile Signature Solution using one of Australia's largest Mobile Network Operators. The POC took place throughout the second half of 2007 and was primarily targeted at the country's financial industry.

The demonstration was facilitated through the hosting telco and Westpac's venture known as 'Trust Centre.' Mobile Signatures were demonstrated to five of the six largest banks in the country, two government departments, and several members of the Australian banking and finance industry.

As stated during the project by Mr. Mark Beaumont, former chief
information technology architect at Trust Centre's, "The concept is pretty simple. It's what it can be used for that's exciting. Wherever a handwritten signature was traditionally required, this solution can replace that process."

"The bank is capable of sending an encrypted message to the user - not even the telco that transported that message could read it," Mr Beaumont said. "The user signs that message and it is then sent back to the bank with the user's signature on the end", he says. (1)

So if you can send a short message with your mobile phone, you can use Valimo's solution for strong and two-factor authentication based on Public Key encryption.

Valimo's mobile signature solution combats identity theft and online fraud: "Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in Australia and it's costing the country an estimated $3.5 billion a year. That's about 20% of what Australian companies spend on information technology on a yearly basis. The percentage of Australians concerned about misuse of personal information
stands at 59%, with war and terrorism trailing by 7 per cent." (2)

In 2007, Valimo delivered a complete mobile signature service
infrastructure to Turkcell. Already 13 banks in Turkey allow their retail customer's to use Turkcell's MobilImza ("Mobile Signature Service") to authenticate themselves for online banking and to digitally sign bank transactions.

The participating businesses have integrated their existing systems to enable mobile signature services in a matter of weeks and this shows how straightforward such integration projects have been. Valimo would like to share this experience.

Contact Valimo's Regional Manager Peter Henningsen(peter.henningsen [at] valimo.com)

You can also meet Valimo at the Mobile World Congress, Fira de Barcelona, Spain, 11-14 February 2008, Hall 1 Booth 1 F62.

(1) "Sign your autograph with Mobile phones", The Australian Financial Review, 25th of June, 2007

(2) Statement from Westpac's Group Executive for Business and Technology Solutions and Services, Mr. Michael Coomer, during "Identity & Access", Virtual Opportunity Congress IV Report, Queensland Parliament House, Brisbane, December 2006

Web site: http://www.valimo.com