New system to combat online banking fraud
A security solution which protects against the most serious threat to online banking customers, responsible for millions in annual losses, is being rolled out across Europe by a Cambridge University spin-out.
A Trojan horse is a type of malware which, like its namesake, presents itself as a harmless gift in order to persuade users to install it, appearing as a legitimate software program. Once installed, hackers gain access to the computer in order to steal information or harm the system.
The solution developed by Cronto protects against Trojan attacks by using a visual channel to transfer data securely from the bank to the customer. It allows the bank to generate a pattern of coloured dots – a proprietary two-dimensional barcode containing the data which the bank is trying to send to the customer, which is decoded by the customer using Cronto's mobile application or standalone hardware device. The company's technology provides a secure "envelope" around the data so that it can be displayed to the customer on a trusted display for verification in any environment over any unsecured channel. The Trojan can see the image being sent by the bank, but cannot change the secure data inside.
Trojan attacks are prevalent and growing. Security firm McAfee identified more than 1.5 million different Trojan malware variations in 2012, with financial services websites a popular target. Trojans are especially dangerous as they control both what the bank receives from the customer and what the customer sees in their browser – a type of attack known as Man-in-the-Browser.
According to Igor Drokov, Cronto's CEO, security in the world of online banking has to go beyond identifying who a customer is, whether via a password, the street they grew up on or the name of their pet goldfish.
"That's not enough, he says. "To combat the level of sophistication poised by Trojan malware, the bank also needs to verify the action that the customer is trying to perform, whether it's a purchase, a transfer or a change of address." Cronto's aim was to produce a solution that was easy to use for millions of customers, but robust enough to meet the security challenges faced by banks.
The 2D barcode which the team developed allows the bank to securely transfer a message of over 100 characters that is decoded by the company's application or hardware device in fractions of a second. The specific features of the image have been developed by testing machine learning algorithms on large datasets of images captured in different conditions.
Using the application or hardware device, the customer scans the image. Providing the security conditions are met, the customer will see the message from their bank, which is typically asking them to confirm the action they are attempting to perform, highlighting any aspects of the transaction which are out of the ordinary. To confirm the transaction, the customer simply uses a six-digit code, generated by the app or device, and enters it into their browser. The code acts as the customer's signature for this specific instruction, and once received and validated by the bank, completes the transaction.
The technology can be used in any environment and is highly adaptable, as it gives the banks the ability to change the message they wish their customers to see, whether in response to an emerging security threat, or simply to allow the
While Cronto is currently focused on the online banking sector, the team also sees commercial possibilities for their technology in e-commerce, peer-to-peer online payments, or any other application where there is a need to create a trusted connection between two parties.




