[Dave Birch] I know it’s rather trite to point this out, but moving to stronger authentication of digital identities does not by itself automatically mean more "security" unless the human factors are taken care of.  Here’s a post I came across while looking for something else to do with a project I’m working on.  It comes from inside a large banking organisation that has adopted two-factor authentication for remote access to corporate resources — surely a sensible policy to protect shareholders’ investments.  The person in charge of this shift writes to the staff:

I know there have been a lot of complaints about the new RSA tokens that we’ve issued, in that it’s a bit of an inconvenience to carry your laptop AND an RSA token on your key ring. Here’s a solution that will help you keep them together. Get a bigger key ring (we’ve got a handful, first come first serve) and put the token on  the key ring using the small diameter ring on the token. Insert the laptop’s power cord through ring, make a half hitch loop on the cord, fastening the bigger ring to the cord.

In other words, tether the token to the access device that’s at risk.

Technorati Tags: internet, mobile, security

[Read more…]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

[Dave Birch] By common consensus, banks are going to lose a lot of payments income because of SEPA. The figures being bandied around are of the order of tens of billions of euros, or as much as two-thirds of total payments-related revenues. Research from CapGemini, ABN Amro and The European Financial Management & Marketing Association (EFMA) — covering banks in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands — forecasts that this reduction in banks’ direct payment revenues often between 18 billion and 29 billion euros will happen by 2010. Banks face the challenge of reducing costs, revising prices and creating incentives – especially for consumers – to move away from unprofitable payments to e-payments in order to preserve profitability. And they need to get on with it. As Ann Cairns (CEO, Transaction Banking, ABN Amro) is quoted as saying: “Banks must urgently analyse the short term impact to comply with the January 2008 agenda both from a regulatory, marketing and operational point of view. They also need to assess whether staying in the payments processing business will continue to be profitable over the longer term.”

Technorati Tags: cash, costs, payments, SEPA

[Read more…]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

[Dave Birch] When I was pottering about in Barclays Bank’s splendid skyscraper in Canary Wharf recently I came across an interesting artifact. In a glass display case is a ring given by Sir Thomas Gresham, one the most important people in the history of money. In his wonderful and indispensable “A History of Money: From Ancient Times to the Present Day” , Glyn Davies (sadly no longer with us, but who very kindly spoke at the first ever Digital Money Forum) tells how Thomas learned about borrowing, lending and foreign exchange while living in Antwerp. In 1587, he “cornered” bills of exchange drawn on Genoan banks so effectively that he was able to disrupt the build-up of resources for Phillip II’s Great Armada , demonstrating how sophisticated economic warfare had become by the 1580s. (For Christmas reading, why not try Neil Hanson’s “The Confident Hope of A Miracle: The True History of the Spanish Armada”, which I thoroughly recommend.)

Technorati Tags: history, payments

[Read more…]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

[Dave Birch] Our final podcast of 2006 is with Richard Mould, head of contactless payments for Barclays, talking about the recently announcement collaboration with Transport for London.

Technorati Tags: contactless, retail, travel

[Read more…]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

[Dave Birch] Driving licences are always a good example to study in the world of digital identity because they are making the transition from dumb to smart, as ID cards are, and could clearly be used to pivot across real and virtual services.  The European Parliament has cleared the way for a new law harmonising EU driving licenses across the European Union, but the new license will not be obligatory until 2033!  There are currently 110 driving licenses held by almost 200 million people – which range in shape, size, the length of time they are granted for and the ease with which they can be counterfeited — so there are obvious efficiencies to come from replacing them.  However, the law will only come into practice in 2013 – when newly-issued driving licenses must be in the new ID1 format – and will then set a firm schedule for replacing all of the old kinds driving licences during the next 26 years.

Technorati Tags: identity, interoperability

[Read more…]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

[Dave Birch] The new V.I.P. (Virgin Important Person) had ads with the tag line “It’s not the size of your V.I.P.-ness, it’s how you use it”. It has a great gimmick: it uses the Visible Results GraphiCard(TM). Customers join the scheme in-store and receive their card on the spot. Points earned on every transaction at Virgin Megastores are instantly displayed on the face of the card, along with their new points balance and the points required to reach the next reward level. (Why you can’t just print these on the receipt, as Aneace has often suggested, I’m not sure.) Rewards include special discounts and entertainment incentives – such as backstage passes, concert tickets, and instant prizes, the usual kind of loyalty stuff.

Technorati Tags: credit cards, debit cards, loyalty, retail

[Read more…]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

[Dave Birch] Will Judge of TfL and I were in a discussion on the cashless society — sparked off by the announcement about Barclaycard and Oyster getting together — on BBC Radio 5 yesterday on the Worricker on Sunday programme (hit the “listen again” button from the Radio 5 home page if you don’t have enough to do — the discussion runs from about 50 minutes in to an hour in).

Technorati Tags: cash, predictions

[Read more…]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.