Credit card theft or identity theft is not uncommon these days, however security research agencies are leaving no stone unturned to minimize such thefts. Recently RSA, a security firm came up with a solution called “two way authentication process”. The moment a transaction is made on the web or online you are given a signal through wifi regarding the activity carried on in a PC and waits for you to approve it. Until you approve of, the money will not be transferred.

The “two way authentication process” has become quite popular. In this process the customers are given tokens and the system generates new passwords that are required to authenticate transactions.

Earlier customers were only notified about the transactions that were being carried out through their account. They came to know of the unwarranted transaction as soon as it was made but could do little to intimidate it.

This “two way authentication process” introduced by RSA is similar to its earlier version of security measures meant for high-end users of banks like Bank of America. In the earlier version, a security token was given to the member and the code changed in every 60 seconds. A text message was sent to the cell phone of the user and the user had to enter the code suggested to confirm his/her identity. This meant the hacker had to steal both the card and the cell phone.

Millions of customers are used to text messaging, but this “earlier two way authentication process” seemed to be quite slow and time consuming. Though there are 140 million active texting users it is not easy to make customers get used to any new processes but with the rise of credit card theft the customers are concerned about security. But the main brunt fell on the banks and merchants who paid for the loss. So for security reasons customers are more willing to participate any new security measures proposed for them.

The new “two way authentication process” through wifi signal is faster and cheaper compared to the text messaging. Some researchers suspect that this “two way authentication process” is not a guarantee against identity theft, as a phishing site can just come on the way between the user and the bank and respond to the temporary PIN generated with the password. The fact that the temporary number only lasts for 60 seconds and no transaction can be faster than that the “two way authentication process” sounds convincing.

This process brings the customer on board and other 20 big clients have opted for this process. One of the biggest client for this process is the Paypal.