Secure access goes mobile

Secure mobile apps vendor Masabi has joined up with ID authentication firm Gridsure to launch a new secure mobile ID solution designed to provide a one time password token or two channel transaction authentication technology.

The new offering uses Masabi’s EncryptME Java security app for mobile phones and Gridsure’s unique namesake solution which asks users to remember a pattern of squares on a grid, which is populated with a different set of numbers each time to ensure the system remains secure even if the user is observed.

It can be implemented by organisations to roll out to users for secure access to corporate systems, or to firms like financial institutions to give their customers a more secure way of carrying out financial transactions, according to Masabi co-founder Ben Whitaker.

“At its simplest form we produced a soft token which is time-synched and shows a series of numbers and can be used as a corporate log in,” he said. “In an e-commerce environment we can go one step further and provide authentication for high profile transactions – it's a big jump to two-factor, two-channel protection."

The e-commerce application of the technology works by sending a secure text message to the user's phone which fires up the application; transaction details are then shown to the user who can authorise the payment by inputting their PIN onto the Gridsure grid, or decline.

The technology was designed as a more user friendly and less costly alternative to RSA-style one-time password generating tokens, and the application can be downloaded onto any Java-enabled phone, according to Whitaker.