Santander Wins Award for Anti-SIM Swapping Initiative
Predictive analytics specialist FICO, aka Fair Isaac, said that Santander has won a 2012 Banking Technology Award for Best Security Initiative, for its anti-SIM (subscriber identity module) swapping fraud initiative.
Banks have reported an increase in ‘SIM swapping’, a financial crime where criminals take over a customer’s mobile phone number by having it moved to a SIM card in their possession in order to acquire security messages and one-time passwords sent to the consumer by the bank.
The criminals are then able to change details, add beneficiaries and transfer money out of the account, using personal information that may have been acquired through phishing attempts. Following a pilot with several vendors, Santander worked with Adeptra (which FICO acquired in August 2012) and its partner ValidSoft to develop, test and implement the world’s first real-time detection and prevention application to tackle the growing problem in the banking industry. It was subsequently rolled-out across the bank’s UK operations.
“The security of a bank is the top priority when customers choose who to bank with,” said Karen Tyler, head of fraud operations at Santander UK. “Customers want a secure account, but they do not want to be inconvenienced. The solution we developed with Adeptra is invisible to the customer, but offers better protection, improving the customer experience.”
The award was given to Santander last month by
Banking Technology
magazine.