Authentify, a specialist in automated telephonic authentication for the Internet, has introduced a new service called “BeCertain” that enables banks to offer their online customers the option to verify the authenticity of the institution’s website by requesting a telephone playback of their recorded voice. This offering provides customers the confidence of knowing that they are at the bank’s website and are not being victimized by a Phishing or Pharming scam.
The BeCertain service is an extension of Authentify’s two-factor authentication technology, which synchronizes an automated outbound telephone call with a web session. Upon first time use, BeCertain places an automated call to the bank customer at the telephone number of record on file with the financial institution. When the call is answered, the customer must speak a security code being presented in their web browser. Next, the customer is prompted to record a voice message by reading a short script presented in their Web browser. On subsequent visits to the bank’s website, the customer can request a playback of their recorded message via a telephone call for assurance that they are on the authentic site.
Authentify’s automated telephonic authentication services offer one of the few methods that require no devices or software on the client side and support any computer or any browser. In addition, the Authentify service establishes a two-way communication channel between an organization and its constituents. For example, this channel enables a web user to authenticate themselves to the bank, and the bank, in turn, can authenticate itself to the user. This authentication channel can also be used as an alert system which can place an unattended and automated telephone call to a user when certain transactions are attempted against their accounts.
