Migrants offer online security

By RICHARD WOOD

A company formed by three Israeli immigrants has developed a system to improve online security for banks and government.

SecuredCell uses a Java program to generate one-time passwords on a mobile phone.

The trick in the program is that the unique password generated each time will match the one generated at that point by the authentication server at the bank.

The system provides a level of security known as two-factor authentication because it requires a cellphone containing the Java software also to be on hand.

SecuredCell began in April and has attracted support from Technology New Zealand.

A prototype has been completed and an unnamed local financial services firm is doing some initial testing.

CEO Arnnei Speiser said issues with hacking of banks in Australia and elsewhere overseas indicated the need for a more secure method of online banking than use of ID and password.

He said some banks were looking at two-factor authentication as the solution.

Competition for SecuredCell exists in two forms: one is a specialised device for generating one-time passwords and the other is a cellular-based system that has one-time passwords sent to it by SMS.

Speiser cites as competitive advantages the low cost of SecuredCell's system, its ability to work even when there is no cellular phone coverage, and the ability to have multiple banks accessible using one cellphone.

The three immigrants who own the firm arrived separately and met in New Zealand about seven month ago.

Speiser has experience in mobile technology development, marketing director Moshe Eyal has experience in security products and chief technology officer Dr Ilan Zisser has a doctorate in pure mathematics.

Speiser said New Zealand looked like "heaven on earth" to them.

"We came here and found a growing English-speaking country where we can find the skills to develop whatever we want."