CA Technologies secure mobile transactions for Poste Italiane
CA Technologies announced that Poste Italiane, a primary provider of postal, banking, insurance and payment services in Italy, has adopted CA AuthMinder™ to provide strong authentication services for its mobile payment application used by customers on their smartphones and tablet devices. Postepay App, downloadable free from iTunes Store and Google Play, allows customers to interact with a wide range of Poste Italiane services allowing them to check account balances, add funds to prepaid cards, add funds to a prepaid mobile phone and transfer funds. Postepay App uses the new PosteID system based on CA AuthMinder to give customers a simple, effective and secure way to carry out transactions using their mobile device.
CA AuthMinder, CA Technologies leading authentication solution behind PosteID, helps secure PostePay mobile transactions for employees, customers and citizens with a convenient advanced authentication system that uses one-time passwords, device-specific credentials and other out-of-band authentication to help verify identities.
“Employees, customers and partners want to connect with businesses in a way that’s most convenient to them – and today that means through a mobile device,” said Mike Denning, general manager and senior vice president, Security, CA Technologies. “The challenge is to make sure those mobile connections and transactions are secure and convenient, and CA AuthMinder can help customers meet that challenge.”
Fabio Fregi, country manager, CA Technologies Italy, said, “We are proud to partner with Poste Italiane and contribute to the success of an organization which plays such a central role in Italy’s social and economic development with the introduction of increasingly innovative solutions. The customer interaction that CA Technologies security solutions provide for online transactions, greatly benefits this fast-paced world of mobile services that we all have embraced.”
To use the service, the Postepay customer must first sign-up on the Poste Italiane website and register the mobile devices intended for use with Postepay App. A text message is then sent to the registered mobile number with a unique activation code associated with the Postepay App installed on the device. On activation, the PosteID software credential (equivalent of a hardware token or smartcard) is sent to the device. The PosteID credential is locked to the device and can then be used in combination with the user’s PIN to verify his identity. In the event of theft or loss of the PosteID certified mobile device, the customer can contact the call center to temporarily block the associated credential. The credential can be reactivated once the old telephone number has been passed to a new device or a new credential assigned.
Giampaolo Franchi, Chief Information Security Officer of Postecom, the Poste Italiane Internet & Digital Company, responsible for technical implementation of the PosteID project, said, “It is vital that Poste Italiane offers secure, mobile customer services. Through our partnership with CA Technologies, we can build closer relationships with our customers and partners by enabling them to use popular devices—like smartphones and tablets—with the assurance that their transactions have been strongly authenticated. With Postepay App and the PosteID security system built on CA AuthMinder from CA Technologies, Poste Italiane enters the mobile payments market, paving the way for a range of new business opportunities .
