Mizuho wanted to be the first to implement electronic signatures in the Japanese retail banking segment. VASCO's solution secures the bank's Mizuho Direct online and mobile banking services against fraudulent transactions initiated by hackers. It provides superior protection to stop the latest fraud schemes such as man-in-the-middle and man-in-the-browser attacks. The one-time password (OTP) function in DIGIPASS 275 is used for both authentication at account sign-in and for an electronic signature, such as bank account transfers and payment settlement services.

Mizuho Bank, the core institution of Mizuho Financial Group, is one of Japan's three major banks. In March 2008, Mizuho Bank initiated a program of security enhancement for their online banking service, Mizuho Direct, using the VASCO DIGIPASS GO6 and VACMAN Controller. This latest upgrade will provide protection against the newest attacks in online banking.

"Since DIGIPASS solutions have been adopted by many domestic banks as well as global banks, DIGIPASS is now considered as the industry-wide standard," says Mr. Shunji Mori, Project Manager at Mizuho Bank. "We will make efforts to help our customers understand its importance and encourage them to use DIGIPASS for their everyday banking services."

"Banks around the world are under increasing attack from sophisticated hacking organizations, and banks in Japan are very much aware of the growing threats," stated Jan Valcke, President and COO of VASCO Data Security. "Mizuho is demonstrating industry leadership by providing their retail banking customer the extra security and convenience of electronic signatures."