Thales today announces that 11 of the 13 member banks involved in the first wave of the UK ’s Faster Payments Scheme are implementing Thales Host Security Module (HSM) 8000 to secure their Faster Payments networks in the run-up to the November 2007 implementation launch. Already used for 70% of the world's card transactions, Thales’s leading position within the HSM market has been reconfirmed by the UK banks’ decision to invest in Thales’s hardware security product.
Thales HSM 8000 is a tamper-resistant device that provides the cryptographic facilities necessary for securing transactions in financial networks. Used to secure a multitude of financial applications around the world ranging from ATM and POS networks to inter-bank funds transfer and share dealing systems, it has now also emerged as the preferred choice for Faster Payments member banks in the UK.
Paul Meadowcroft, head of transaction security for the e-security activities of Thales, comments: “Our ongoing partnership with Immediate Payments, (Voca – LINK), combined with our market leadership, experience and expertise in this field, have enabled us to become the supplier of choice for banks needing to secure Faster Payments networks in the UK. As a result of our market leadership, Thales HSM sales have increased by 100% in the past year. We will continue to work closely with the current member banks, as well as those joining in the future, to ensure that the faster transaction processing times enabled by Faster Payments do not in any way compromise the levels of security provided.”
As the member banks use Thales HSM to securely set up their new Faster Payments networks, consideration must also be given as to how to strongly authenticate the users of online banking. As of November, the Faster Payments systems will enable a payment to be processed in a matter of seconds. As a result, the opportunity to stop a fraudulent payment is greatly reduced and adequate authentication of the transactions passing through the system becomes critical. Banks are currently working towards implementing authentication solutions that are capable of mitigating the increased risk associated with Faster Payments. Authentication solutions improve security by enabling banks to receive a payment instruction from a variety of different channels and strongly authenticate the person to prove they are who they say they are within the significantly reduced transaction processing time period
Notes to editors:
About Thales Host Security Module 8000
The Host Security Module 8000 (HSM) is the latest incarnation of the Hardware Security Modules family, it takes the HSM forward in terms of performance and validated security for Banking and Financial transaction processing.
The HSM 8000 utilises technology that has been formally validated to the most stringent security standard (FIPS 140-2 Level 3). In addition the HSM 8000 is MEPS II approved for use on the French banking networks.
Primarily designed to address the ATM/EFTPOS market and back office security services, the HSM 8000 provides all the functionality to address the needs of acquirers, switches and issuers for the processing of magnetic stripe and chip card transactions (EMV). It has been integrated with all the leading software addressing this market.
About Thales
Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales’s leading-edge technology is supported by 22 000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. To this end, the group’s civil and military businesses develop in parallel and share a common base of technologies to serve a single objective: the security of people, property and nations. The group builds its growth on its unique multi-domestic strategy based on trusted partnerships with national customers and market players, while leveraging its global expertise to support local technology and industrial development. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with forecast 2007 revenues in excess of € 12 billion.
About e-Security business
Thales is a world leader in the provision of cryptographic security products and solutions for all critical infrastructures including governments, the military, satellite networks, enterprises and the finance industry. Thales has 40 years of unrivalled track record in protecting networks up to Top Secret and a complete portfolio of products, which includes network encryption, access control and remote user solutions. In the financial world Thales secures value bearing transactions, data preparation for card and PIN issuing, and provides advanced user and message authentication solutions supported by secure identity management and token issuing . Over half of the world’s banks, together with the majority of the busiest exchanges, currently use Thales technology and services.
Press Contacts
Thales, Security Solutions & Services
Sarah Milligan
Tel. +44 1 844 204 181
sarah.milligan@thales-esecurity.com
Thales Corporate Communications
Markus Leutert
Tel. +33 1 57777 8626
markus.leutert@thalesgroup.com
