ActivIdentity Corporation, a global leader in secure identity solutions, part of HID Global, today introduced 4TRESS Authentication Appliance that offers a complete multi-layered strong authentication, fraud detection and cloud security capabilities to enterprises, banks and ecommerce sites. The new 4TRESS Authentication Appliance FT2011 model provides more than 15 versatile strong authentication methods that can be used in conjunction with transparent new adaptive authentication and fraud detection techniques to achieve more security, more conveniently for end-users, and more affordably.

With Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and bank fraud increasing at alarming rates, enterprises and online banks are looking for more effective authentication solutions that inhibit damage from credential and identity theft, without degrading user experience. ActivIdentity’s 4TRESS Authentication Appliance supports a wide range of tokens, including Web, mobile and PC soft tokens for a broad range of use cases, and also provides Out-of-Band (SMS or email) OTP for transaction level authentication to block man-in-the-middle attacks. 4TRESS Fraud Detection goes even further, profiling PCs at registration and each subsequent login attempt to transparently rate risk and intelligently allow or disallow access accordingly.  4TRESS Fraud Detection leverages a network that profiles millions of PCs daily, and utilizes network knowledge to identify bad-risk PCs the first time they attempt to access a new customer’s site. In addition, the 4TRESS Fraud Detection preserves privacy by not storing any personally identifiable information.

“Fraud detection and versatile authentication are a strong combination that fills a profound security need,” said Gartner vice president and analyst Avivah Litan. “Multi-layered fraud prevention and strong authentication that is convenient for end-users will be increasingly necessary to meet evolving business needs, security threats and regulatory standards.”

ActivIdentity has also made efforts to increase the security of cloud applications. Many organisations are delaying cloud-based applications deployment because they are uncertain how to protect data outside their firewall. 4TRESS can provide OTP, OOB, and smart card strong authentication in front of SAML V2-enabled cloud applications. This allows an enterprise to use their preferred strong authentication method wherever their data resides.

To facilitate rapid integration for online banking customers, 4TRESS supports a wide range of industry standards, with flexible API’s and offers a pre-configured template for solution partners, including deployment with the TEMENOS banking platform. The new appliance is fully localisable, Section 508-compliant and enables centralised security management.

“Our internet banking customers require high levels of additional security layers to prevent online fraud,” said Mark Gunning, business solutions director, at TEMENOS. “The ActivIdentity 4TRESS Authentication Appliance delivers a highly versatile authentication platform with excellent fraud detection capabilities to our banking system, making the TEMENOS Core Banking System the most secure and technically advanced banking system available.”

With the new 4TRESS Authentication Appliance, enterprises and banking institutions will be able to increase productivity by securely connecting from any location through a variety of devices and authentication methods. They can reduce cost by using a single versatile platform to meet the needs of diverse groups of users, while increasing user satisfaction with more transparent and efficient strong authentication.

To ensure successful deployment and operation, 4TRESS Authentication Appliance FT2011 has a host of new ease-of-administration capabilities:

A complete turn-key, wizard-based appliance works out of the box, and requires no database, OS or Web Server expertise.
Extended support for RADIUS and LDAP provides easy integration into eco system.
An embedded Oracle database with high availability eliminates the need for a data base administrator.
The Virtual Appliance option reduces cost and speeds deployment, especially for smaller enterprises.
“Multi-layered strong authentication is one of the few reliable methods of inhibiting credential theft and account escalation endemic to Advanced Persistent Threats,” said Christy Serrato, solutions marketing - financial services, ActivIdentity, part of HID Global. “4TRESS Authentication Appliance along with the ActivIdentity extended solutions portfolio ensures our customers are able to secure their networks in the most convenient, versatile and affordable manner currently available.”

ActivIdentity recently revealed best practices for avoiding enterprise security breaches and issued recommendations outlining three keys to success in addressing them.