In recent development banking powerhouse UBS has developed a device made from IBM that is thought to have the ability to secure online banking transactions without the interference of hackers. The device is called Zone Trusted Information Channel (ZTIC) and it is a smart card reader that attaches to a computer through a USB cable.
How this device works is that it when your doing a online transaction instead of going through the web browser it bypasses it and makes a direct secure Socket Layer Connection(SLC) with the bank. And with this access the ZTIC is able to show the banking customer what is really happening even if there was malicious and dangerous software infected on the computer.
When you are connected to the PC via USB, the customer enters the ZTIC card and enters their own PIN code onto the UBS website. When the account information of the beneficiary is entered for payment, the ZTIC will display the target account on the device screen. If the transaction has been hacked and the account numbers don't match the customer can the abort payment This is a good process because hackers steal information by interfering with transactions in real time and modifying the data. With ZTIC it eliminates the middle man attacks and hacks and gives you a direct connection to the source.
UBS primarily bought this device mainly for corporate customers trying to set up new payment beneficiaries in their online banking system. This technology has been around but IBM is the first company to get a major banking corporation to deploy it.
Wow great post John, interesting technology.
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