BEDFORD, Mass.-RSA Security, a company that has been delivering two-factor authentication security solutions to consumers since the 1980s, has jumped into the mobile space by replacing the small security devices it offers with end users’ own mobile phones.
RSA Security’s two-factor authentication is based on two passwords that together enable access to secure information. A consumer is assigned both a personal identification number (PIN) and is given a SecurID token, a small device that randomly displays a new access code every minute. Because the tokens’ codes change frequently and randomly, the user’s information is highly protected. However, according to RSA, distributing the token to the end user can be inconvenient and costly for all parties.
Hence RSA Mobile, RSA’s latest two-factor authentication campaign. With RSA Mobile, users still set and are responsible for their own PIN. In addition, they receive a random access code via an SMS message on their own already-existing, already-in-use mobile phone, rather than on an RSA SecurID token.
With RSA Mobile, a user attempting to view his bank account information online enters his pre-assigned PIN onto the bank’s site, triggering RSA to send an SMS message with a new, random access code. Upon entering that access code into the appropriate field, the user immediately gets secure access to his information.
Initially, RSA plans to target the online banking market with its mobile security solution, but according to Derek Brink, director of product management in RSA’s authentication division, RSA has its eye on any enterprise interested in providing secure access to its customers. In fact, RSA sees RSA Mobile as beneficial partly because it will allow the company to address new markets-telecom companies themselves, management service providers and online gaming industries all hold enormous potential as customers.
RSA said it has been carrying out prototype testing during the past three quarters and reports that its SMS messages have been delivered to users consistently in less than five seconds. The company’s first customer shipment is scheduled for next month.
