The Cryptomathic Authenticator has been deployed by the financial services provider to protect its customer base of over one million against sophisticated financial crimes, such as phishing, and to improve overall customer experience.

The drive behind IL&P's move to deliver stronger authentication is to secure the initialisation of payments through its Open24 internet banking platform and GTX telephone banking system. Cryptomathic's Authenticator was chosen over other solutions available in the marketplace for its flexibility in supporting multiple authentication mechanisms and token form factors. Additionally, it could easily integrate into the bank's existing back-end infrastructure and is able to interface with IL&P's two distinct internal systems - Open24 and GTX - through its ability to run as a standalone service.

IL&P selected the SMS token to send one-time-passwords (OTP) to customers via their mobile phones. Using the mobile phone ties into IL&P's mobile banking strategy and negates the requirement for a large scale delivery of tokens. It also provides a high level of security as the OTP is delivered to the customer 'out-of-band' and not through the existing user interface network, such as an internet banking application. To ensure business continuity and scalability to support its 24/7 internet banking operation, IL&P has deployed Cryptomathic's Authenticator at two of its data centres, enabling access to a standby system at all times.

Karina O'Donnell, Head of Customer Operations, IL&P, comments: "Prior to this project we used security call backs as an additional method to reduce the possibility of fraud but it was not well received by our customers and was extremely cumbersome to maintain. Cryptomathic had a clear understanding of the issues facing IL&P and delivered exactly what was needed - a robust, flexible and future-proof authentication solution. The customer feedback has been excellent.ellent."

Morten Landrock, MManaging Director of Cryptomathic UK, adds: "Cryptomathic is delighted to be working with IL&P to protect the Irish banking community from financial crimes. It is imperative that customers feel safe and confident when using remote banking channels and IL&P's investment in 'out-of-band' authentication using SMS highlights its commitment to delivering strong security, yet offering a good and convenient customer experience. "