S1 will integrate PassMark Security's industry leading strong, risk-based authentication security system with its retail and small business online banking solutions. This will provide S1's nearly 1,000 financial institution customers with enhanced authentication capabilities that are compliant with the recent guidance put forth by the FFIEC.

The solution will be available to all S1 Community Financial IBS, S1 Personal Banking and S1 Business Banking customers beginning in Q2. S1 will immediately begin working with its customers to schedule PassMark implementations to ensure they have the appropriate time to comply with the FFIEC regulations and deadlines.

"To meet our internal goals as well as the FFIEC guidance for stronger authentication, we chose to implement PassMark's two-factor, two-way authentication solution," said Lynn Young, vice president of Internet and branch delivery, Zions Bancorporation, and current customer of S1 solutions. "The solution offered by PassMark protects our customers' sensitive financial information as it uses the customers' devices for accessing online banking without negatively impacting their online experience. We anticipate positive customer response and are pleased to see two of our key partners now working together."

According to James S. "Chip" Mahan, III, CEO of S1, "After a thorough review of the leading vendors in this space, we chose PassMark Security as our primary partner. Its compelling product offer meets the online security needs of all the banks and credit unions in our customer base, whether their scope is global, national, regional or community based. Utilizing a flexible authentication framework already present in our applications, our strategy is to give our customers the flexibility to choose the right solution for their specific needs and customer preferences. However, our relationship with PassMark gives them a packaged integration that is a fast track to meeting the FFIEC mandate by year-end."

According to Lin Johnstone, CEO of PassMark , "We are pleased to be working closely with S1 to deliver a solution that meets the needs of its customers. Our experience with more than 15 million retail and small business users gives S1's prestigious list of customers confidence that they are going with a leading provider that will meet their current and future needs."

The PassMark system includes both Two-Factor Two-Way Authentication(TM) and real-time, risk-based transaction analysis and scoring to protect the front door (i.e., log-in) and the back door (i.e., financial transaction) of a financial institution's online offerings. Using the system's Policy Engine, each financial institution customer can easily implement their own decisions on what to do with transactions based on their risk scores.

Since the second-factor of authentication uses devices online users already possess, their computers and phones, the result is end-to-end protection for financial institutions and their customers against phishing, spoofing, keyboard logging and other fraudulent attacks, without requiring their users to carry any new hardware or install any new software. And with the world's largest database of online banking authentication data, PassMark's risk analytics are among the most robust available today providing strong, layered security.

In conjunction with the packaged integration of PassMark's solution, S1 also offers end-user educational programs through S1 to One Solutions to facilitate customer adoption of the new security offering. S1 to One Solutions are designed to help S1 partner financial institutions of all sizes improve their active online user base, further driving customer loyalty and cost-efficient customer service.