As the global debate on cyber security in financial services continues, fraudsters are experiencing their prime time. SMS and email OTPs (one-time passwords) are easy-to-hack credentials allowing fraudsters to access e.g. financial accounts of ordinary people.

During the last year, there have been lots of reports coming from around the world describing the magnitude of these activities. In Southeast Asia alone, over 11 million phishing links were blocked by one single anti-phishing system. Although demonstrating the activity of fraudsters in this region, there are also many cases where the fraudsters succeed. In just two months, 790 customers of OCBC Bank lost $10.18 million in SMS phishing scams. Perpetrators using phishing emails were able to intercept OTPs to bypass the bank’s security infrastructure. Moreover, 700 customers of BDO Unibank had unauthorized fund transfers.

12iD is constantly discussing these matters with banks and financial institutions all around the world. One of the most common problems is tackling the risks deriving from having OTPs as the primary protection for financial services. 12iD can’t stress how common this issue is, everywhere. But now, there is a sustainable way to eliminate OTPs.

Banks and digital financial services in the Nordics have abandoned OTPs. For example, Sweden banks have created an ID wallet used by over 98% of the adult population, eliminating phishing fraud. 12iD has developed more scalable technology for eliminating these problems in a more cost-efficient way, making a similar solution accessible to banks and financial services across the globe and between different markets.

12iD can facilitate the transition from an OTP-based structure to a secure- and seamless mobile ID wallet, containing no usernames and passwords. The limitation of full digital transformation starts and ends with uniquely identifying who the customer is, allowing accessibility and full service from anywhere. With 12iD's quantum-proof ledger technology, it aligns the mission to get rid of legacy solutions and fraud.

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