ATM thieves to get the finger

By Fiona Gounden

South Africa is on the brink of a banking revolution with the introduction of fingerprint identification at ATMs and the phasing out of cards and PIN codes.

Major banks in the country are investigating the use of fingerprint identification, which could be introduced within the next seven months.

The banks are already conducting tests into biometric identification technology, where fingerprint verification sensors are used on ATMs. Clients place their fingers on the machine sensor and the screen tells users whether they have been recognised, and whether they may withdraw cash.

Countries like Colombia have already introduced this and it has been dubbed as the "hardest form of authentication to imitate".

Pierre Steyn, CEO of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, the unit set up by the banks to deal with crime, said: "We have been looking at strategies to deal with crime at ATMs for a long time. We believe that it (fingerprint identification) would give ATM criminals difficulty.

"It would mean that they would have to chop off a person's finger to gain access to their money."

Absa Bank has already started preparing for biometric verification. Pravesh Mahadeo, General Manager for the Self Services Channel at Absa, said: "A fingerprint is such a unique feature. No two people share this, even if they are twins. We see the use of this technology as quite likely in the future. Absa has been conducting a number of tests.

"The only shortfall is looking at tolerance levels for fingerprint recognition, particularly with elderly people and manual workers.

"Their fingerprints tend to get worn out and we may need to improve our imaging for these prints to be recognised."

The technology could be introduced quickly, depending on how the banks worked with each other, said Mahadeo.

"Other banks would have to accept us and we would accept them. So all major banks would have to work closely together on this initiative and it could take anything from seven months, if we work fast, up to a few years."

Herman Singh, director of engineering at Standard Bank, said: "Tests of fingerprint testing started as a pilot project last year and we believe it is reaching an advanced stage.

"Fingerprint technology is being used at our pension payouts. Pensioners have praised this new development as they find it more convenient and hassle free. This has proved so successful that we think that ATM fingerprint verification will be an even greater progression."

Singh said the bank was also experimenting with voice verification at ATMs.

"The good thing about bio-metric verification is that characteristics like the fingerprint and voice are almost impossible to duplicate," he said.

"With more than 12 000 ATMs, a great deal of planning will have to go into this. It would take a few years as all banks would have to be standardised, and we would need to work together in transmitting information to each other," he said.

First National Bank's Mike Arnold, who is the CEO of the Self Services Channel, said the new technology was proving to be a huge success in other countries and the bank believed a breakthrough in biometric identification technology in South Africa was "imminent".

The Department of Social Welfare has introduced a fingerprint identification system at payout points for pensioners. The department's chief officer for Social Security Services, Sifiso Khanyile, said it had been highly successful.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Independent on Saturday on October 29, 2005

ID fraudsters bank billions

By Mark Carrels

Fraudsters using stolen or copied identity documents are stealing millions of rands from unsuspecting South Africans in what is becoming one of the fastest-growing criminal activities in the world.

Since April last year, identity fraudsters have stolen more than R83-million from banks alone, while experts say identity theft worldwide already amounts to billions of dollars.

Head of forensics at First National Bank in Johannesburg, Eddie Blight, said identity fraud or impersonation theft was the fastest growing fraudulent activity in the world.

"But though the banks are a target we are declining more accounts where ID fraud is suspected due to authentication systems."

While South African banks lost at least R83-million to fraudsters using stolen or copied IDs, fraudulent claims based on stolen or fake IDs cost the life assurance industry a staggering R200-million in 2003 alone.

South African Fraud Protection Services said far too many photocopies of IDs were in circulation, helping fraudsters commit theft on a grand scale.

"Almost every bank and business needs a copy of one's ID, but what are they really doing with these IDs?" said spokesperson Patrick Cunningham.

Cunningham warned that most South Africans were not safeguarding their identity documents appropriately. And it did not help that the department of home affairs was unable to keep a tight rein on the issuing of fraudulent IDs.

There had been allegations that some employees of organisations that required ID photocopies for transactions were stealing other people's identities to buy goods fraudulently or to open bank accounts where stolen money was deposited and cashed.

Business Against Crime's project director for organised crime Graeme Wright said identity fraud was particularly rife in motor vehicle theft.

"Even though traffic authorities require original licence documents when vehicles are registered, fraudsters still manage to assume the identity of the actual owner of the vehicle."

Most of the stolen vehicles ended up being moved across the border to neighbouring countries where they were sold illegally.

The managing director of South African Banking Risk Information Centre Pierre Steyn confirmed that identity fraud was a "very, very serious" problem in South Africa, even though it was difficult to quantify.

Banks had established that identity fraud was the first step in a chain of criminal events that often ended in the transfer of money from legal owners to criminals.

He said corruption at the home affairs department, where some officials were colluding with fraudsters, was rife.

Sometimes corrupt officials helped fraudsters create new identity documents from the IDs of dead people by changing the photograph.

Fraudsters often used stolen IDs to obtain credit, resulting in lenders registering innocent people as poor payers which ruined their credit ratings.

On Friday South Africa's major banks announced plans to use fingerprint identification that could phase out the use of ATM cards. This would limit ATM theft and the fraudulent use of cards.

Approached for comment, home affairs spokesperson Stokwe Fotoyi admitted his department could not rule out that officials were involved in identity fraud.

"But we are committed to bringing corrupt officials to book. We have many immigration officers who will leave no stone unturned in arresting corrupt officials."

Fotoyi warned members of the public not to accept help from "street agents" who apparently "organised" personal documents, especially for illiterate clients, in return for a fee.

Director of Forensic Services at Standard Bank, Robin Bhagwandass, said identity theft worldwide amounted to billions of dollars.

"As for the size of the problem here, we are unable to state a figure."

He added that phishing, in which spam mail is sent to computer users under the guise of genuine transactions, was also a popular method of fleecing people of their money.

Crimeware or spyware were another popular way for fraudsters to gain illegal access to personal information with a view to commiting fraud. He said customers should be careful who they shared information with.

"Your bank will not ask you for your user ID or password. Neither will your bank request personal information that they already have on file."

"When doing internet banking, make sure that you have accessed the correct address. Ensure you have downloaded and run the latest anti-virus software. Keep your ID/drivers licence and cheque books in a secure place and dispose of statements by tearing them up," said Bhagwandass.

You should report the loss of these documents to your bankers and South African fraud prevention services as soon as possible, he added.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Argus on October 30, 2005

Fingerprint-it launches their new Time Manager

http://www.fingerprint-it.com  proudly launches their new Time Manager Product

 

For more details see: http://www.fingerprint-it.com/pdf/Brochure_Time_Manager.pdf

New identity solution in SA

South African biometrics group Fingerprint-IT is introducing a product
designed to combat identity fraud, phishing, password theft and
repudiation, says company director Bryan Kimmel.Kimmel believes biometrics
technology has entered the second phase of its lifecycle in terms of
global applications, and is moving away from being solely an access
control solution.Fingerprint-IT's BioIdentity application is a third-party
verification and identity register, which requires that clients submit
their identity details to the vendor, which captures these and submits the
information to BioIdentity over the Internet or direct
connection.BioIdentity checks for non-duplication and then registers the
client along with their details, says Kimmel."The client initiates a new
transaction when purchasing something or when his identity has been
confirmed. He does this by placing his finger on a fingerprint scanner,
and BioIdentity then returns a positive, negative or unknown result."If
the result of the verification is positive, Kimmel says, the vendor can
then proceed with the transaction knowing the true identity of the client
has been established.Furthermore, the system can be integrated into any
transactional system to enable the secure processing of any type of
financial transaction that is identity bound. Kimmel claims this
eliminates all hacking vulnerabilities, as well as ensures security for
the client, merchant and financial institution.Kimmel says that, apart
from eliminating the threat of fraud and skimming, the system also allows
for quicker checkouts and customer convenience, and enables
customer-pattern tracking and directed promotional advertising. In
addition, BioIdentity can be used for age verification for movies, as well
as sales of tobacco and alcohol products."BioIdentity works with any
fingerprint reader, providing it meets our stringent security
requirements."Kimmel points out that vendors do not require expensive
server hardware or IT staff to manage yet another system, which means
there is a low up-front cost."It is available as a standalone system and
integrates into any existing application," Kimmel says.

Posted: 10/7/2005 10:35:17 AM

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Biometrics fights cyber crime

Biometrics systems solutions are best suited to fight rapidly growing
cybercrime.This is according to Iona Press Services CEO, Matthew White,
who was speaking at the e-government forum yesterday. The forum is part of
the seventh annual African Computing and Telecommunications Summit, being
held in Sandton from 4 to 7 October.Many company executives are unaware
that the biggest data loss they are likely to suffer happens internally,
he said."Research firm Gartner predicts 60% of security breach incident
costs, incurred by business this year, will be as a result of company
insiders working alone or in conspiracy with outsiders," said White.The
crimes are mostly motivated by financial or political reasons, he
said.Xhead = Easy targets"The chances of an employee getting caught, given
that the current state of protection, are minimal."However, consequences
of intellectual property theft are becoming more severe, which was
highlighted by White's example of a Durban-based company that dismissed
its senior manager and had him charged with intellectual property theft
worth R5.5 million.Furthermore, a sharp rise in cybercrime and other
information breaches last year was reported by the US National Computer
Security Centre, White said."Of the 520 large US corporations such as
government agencies and universities that responded, 64% reported
intrusions, up by 16% in a year and the Internet was the main point of
attack."Intellectual property theft is a worldwide problem, White pointed
out. He also warned that companies should not allow employees to use
internal systems outside of work, as a company may be held liable for
unfairly dismissing an employee found to have abused the company's
system.Xhead = A biometric keyThe civil ID and PC/networked access would
be the leading biometric applications over the next five years, White
said.Biometrics has emerged as a worldwide identification and verification
solution, with large-scale deployments under way in countries including
SA, Malaysia, Chile and the US, he said.A market report revealed that
biometrics revenues attributed to PC/networked access are expected to grow
at a rapid pace over the next two years, White said, driven by the
increased awareness of employee authentication levels at the enterprise
level."Password management is currently a significant cost factor that can
be reduced significantly through the use of biometrics instead of
passwords, with the added benefit of elevating the level of security."
Asked about how easy is it to fake fingerprints, White said: "I've heard
that communications systems company Sagem is currently testing what they
call 'dead finger detection' but I do not see the possibility of anyone
faking a fingerprint."

Biometrics deployed in prisons

The Department of Correctional Services has deployed an R88 million
security system that uses biometric technology in prisons countrywide.The
installation of the new security system from Sandolo Consortium started in
June 2005 in Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. It has now been
installed in 66 prisons and all prisons will have the system by March next
year.The system controls and monitors access to correctional centres."If a
person visits the centre, an official has to be present to allow them in
or out. The official will use their fingerprint instead of a card for
entry and exit to the individual centres," says Manelisi Wolela, deputy
commissioner of communication for the department.The system includes
parcel scanners, metal detectors and a turnstile gate, which is a
print-reading facility used to monitor access in the centres, he adds.
"This is the best identification system that we have installed. It has
integrated use within the individual centre and a number of screens for
the officials to view who comes in and out. To ensure the success of the
inspection, a central checkpoint is set up by individual centres."
Correctional services minister Ngconde Balfour says the security system is
expected to improve safety and security in centres, and enhance the
department's fight against fraud, corruption and unethical behaviour of
officials, members of the public and offenders."The system is designed to
help officials to focus more on the rehabilitation of offenders with
improved safety and security," he says.Though minimising the escape rate
in correctional centres is a central factor to the installation of this
system, Wolela says: "The system hasn't been around for a long time, so we
can't expect to see measurable results as to the number of escapes. The
fact remains that there are still escapes and we don't want that."