Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
You may have general questions about financial authentication, Entersekt, our banking and payment authentication solutions (like biometrics and 3-D Secure), or want to learn more about how our clients benefit from our solutions. We hope these FAQs provide the answers you’re looking for. Feel free to reach out to our specialists if you need more information.
Resources
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
You may have general questions about financial authentication, Entersekt, our banking and payment authentication solutions (like biometrics and 3-D Secure), or want to learn more about how our clients benefit from our solutions. We hope these FAQs provide the answers you’re looking for. Feel free to reach out to our specialists if you need more information.
Resources
About us
Entersekt is a leading financial authentication provider for financial institutions (FIs). Founded in 2008, the company provides FIs with digital banking fraud prevention and payment security solutions through its cross-channel, Context Aware™ Authentication platform that secures digital transactions and optimizes user experiences.
Entersekt is backed by companies like Silicon Valley-based Accel-KKR, one of the world’s top private equity firms, serves FIs around the world, and holds 120+ patents for its security innovations.
Entersekt offers a single, modern authentication platform that delivers banking-grade online transaction security built on real-time risk intelligence. Entersekt offers consistent authentication options across all customer interaction channels leveraging silent and active authentication methods, including biometrics and passkeys, to ensure an optimal user experience with the highest level of security.
Our fraud prevention solutions cover authentication for digital banking transactions, payment authentication and 3-D Secure payments.
Entersekt provides digital banking fraud prevention and payment security solutions that protect the following banking channels:
- Digital banking
- Call center, chat, and branch banking
- Open Banking and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS)
- Online payments
Entersekt’s financial authentication solutions serve the financial services sector, focusing on digital fraud prevention for banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions, both retail and commercial.
Entersekt’s headquarters is co-located in Cape Town, South Africa and Atlanta, U.S. with additional office locations around the globe including Europe, the UK, and Africa.
You can get in touch with Entersekt via our general inquiries webpage for support-related or general queries.
At Entersekt, we believe that there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to customer and payment authentication. Out pioneering technology provides financial institutions with a single solution that covers all banking and payment channels and analyzes the context of each transaction in real-time to provide the most suitable authentication and reduce unnecessary friction.
To get started with Entersekt, you can book a demo or contact us about a product-related or general query here.
Entersekt has a range of partnership types, from technology partners to integrated solution providers to resellers. We align with companies that have common goals to provide best-in-class fraud prevention for digital banking and online payments across the globe.
Some of our partners include Bankish, Bonifii, Crealogix, Featurespace, FEITIAN Technologies, Global Kinetic, Mambu, Mastercard NuData, OneWelcome, OutSystems, Ping Identity, Q2, Temenos, Teros, Thales, Tuum and TCS BaNCS.
Some of our partners include Bankish, Bonifii, Crealogix, Featurespace, FEITIAN Technologies, Global Kinetic, Mambu, Mastercard NuData, OneWelcome, OutSystems, Ping Identity, Q2, Temenos, Teros, Thales, Tuum and TCS BaNCS.
Entersekt products
EMV 3DS provides a layer of security to online payments and chip cards provide a layer of security to transactions where the card and cardholder are present for the transaction. Both follow the protocols of EMVCo, the global technical body that manages and develops specifications and programs for card-based payments.
Financial institutions in Europe and the UK are required to follow SCA and implement two-factor authentication (2FA) for digital payments.
SCA exemptions apply to payment service providers, and focus on factors such as the transaction amount, the payment channel, payment risk and whether a payment is reoccurring. A few specific examples of exemptions include low-risk transactions, contactless payments at a POS, payments to a trusted beneficiary or a credit transfer between one person’s own accounts. If no exemption applies to a transaction, then SCA must be applied.
All major global card networks including Visa, Mastercard, Discovery, American Express, UnionPay, JCB, Discover Card, Diners Club, and many regional card schemes including Mir, Bancontact, ELO, Dankort, and more.
Entersekt is one of the only vendors offering all four EMV 3DS products: 3DS ACS, 3DS Directory Server, 3DS Server/Merchant Plug-in and 3DS SDK for merchant apps. We also offer 3DS Certification Testing Services for card schemes and issuers (more detail on that below).
When 3DS is used with Entersekt’s modern authentication methods and strong risk decisioning, issuers can expect to increase 3DS transaction success rates, improve customer experience and reduce fraud. Together with our biometric authentication and silent, data-driven authenticators, our 3DS solutions reduce friction and improve security.
When 3DS is used with Entersekt’s modern authentication methods and strong risk decisioning, issuers can expect to increase 3DS transaction success rates, improve customer experience and reduce fraud. Together with our biometric authentication and silent, data-driven authenticators, our 3DS solutions reduce friction and improve security.
Most payment schemes no longer support 3DS 1.0, but if applicable, the payment system provides information on PANs that support EMV 3DS (also referred to as 3DS 2.0) through card range updates. This information is used to route transactions according to the appropriate protocol.
No, EMV 3DS 1.0 does not meet the PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements. EMV 3DS 1.0 lacks robust multi-factor authentication, advanced methods like biometric authentication, and is limited in terms of device and channel support. Additionally, transactions using EMV 3DS 1.0 tend to create high friction in the user experience during authentication.
This can vary based on the issuer’s risk appetite and the rules they set, which typically consider the value of the transaction, merchant category, and more. Low-risk transactions can be frictionlessly approved at a very high rate if the rules are set appropriately. If a high volume of transactions is submitted for 3DS authentication, it enables risk engines to learn the characteristics of “good” transactions.
Yes, Entersekt offers 3DS Certification Testing Service for card schemes and issuers, one of the only testing environments that uses EMVCo-certified components across all three domains. This comprehensive service enables issuers to be compliant with card scheme requirements, and ensures any changes to the 3DS flows are effective and delivering the desired user experience. Because the entire testing flow uses EMVCo-certified components, the tests are more accurate and there are fewer problems when new flows are rolled into production. Even the EMVCo organization is a client of our reliable, effective 3DS testing environment.
- Entersekt-hosted
- Client-hosted (on-premise and cloud)
- Platform-integrated
Entersekt's Access Control Server (ACS) enables processors and issuers to protect cardholders by offering secure, low-friction 3-D Secure transactions with customer-preferred authentication methods. Entersekt’s 3DS ACS is designed to serve complex hierarchies of processors and issuers, and support separate or combined reporting, and unique or common requirements down to the BIN level. Authentication methods, authentication dialogues, language versions, risk rules, and other components can be configured on a card range level for each issuer.
Highlights of the unique capabilities of Entersekt’s ACS include:
Highlights of the unique capabilities of Entersekt’s ACS include:
- More control to make changes directly to their customer experience, including 3DS flows, branding and rules, without fees or support tickets.
- Advanced, customer-preferred authentication methods pre-integrated to the ACS.
- Authentication Advisor, that utilizes multiple sources of risk-based data to support decisioning tailored for each customer and transaction.
- Context Aware™ Authentication across banking and payment channels, for enhanced security and streamlined customer experience.
- Card scheme compliance tools to support adherence with card scheme requirements, such as Mastercard Edits.
The enrollment of merchants depends on whether the payment system follows a trusted or a non-trusted model.
For a trusted model, the merchant registration is not necessary on the payment systems and the Directory Server (payment system) trusts the operator of the service and the acquirer’s configuration and connection for completing the authentication.
However, in the case of a non-trusted model, the processors must individually register each merchant configuration with the payments system via their portal or API.
For a trusted model, the merchant registration is not necessary on the payment systems and the Directory Server (payment system) trusts the operator of the service and the acquirer’s configuration and connection for completing the authentication.
However, in the case of a non-trusted model, the processors must individually register each merchant configuration with the payments system via their portal or API.
When merchants don’t submit transactions for 3-D Secure authentication they are missing out on a reliable fraud prevention tool that can not only reduce the cost of fraud, but also increase transaction success rates.
Without submitting transactions for 3-D Secure authentication, merchants are not taking advantage of the opportunity to shift liability for that transaction to the issuer, if a chargeback occurs due to fraud. Some merchants selectively submit only the transactions they deem to be high risk. However, this is not recommended as the risk assessment models applied to 3DS authentication are not able to learn what “good” looks like, so they are more likely to decline more transactions. Furthermore, there’s an increased risk of the merchant system letting fraudulent transactions slip through, as they incorrectly perceive them as low risk. Fraudsters are very skilled at learning the static parameters that merchants use for assessing risk, and then submit theirs within the low-risk thresholds. Taking advantage of 3DS, those are more likely to be detected, and if not, the issuer takes on the liability.
Without submitting transactions for 3-D Secure authentication, merchants are not taking advantage of the opportunity to shift liability for that transaction to the issuer, if a chargeback occurs due to fraud. Some merchants selectively submit only the transactions they deem to be high risk. However, this is not recommended as the risk assessment models applied to 3DS authentication are not able to learn what “good” looks like, so they are more likely to decline more transactions. Furthermore, there’s an increased risk of the merchant system letting fraudulent transactions slip through, as they incorrectly perceive them as low risk. Fraudsters are very skilled at learning the static parameters that merchants use for assessing risk, and then submit theirs within the low-risk thresholds. Taking advantage of 3DS, those are more likely to be detected, and if not, the issuer takes on the liability.
Entersekt offers hosted or on-premise deployment options. With the 3-D Secure Server, there’s a simplified integration process. Clients receive training sessions to guide them on their integration options and have a choice of two integration interfaces. Merchants typically go from project kickoff to go-live in approximately 4 – 8 weeks, depending on their environment and resource availability.
Entersekt’s Digital QR Payments solution enables fast, low-friction payments, across peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant payments. It provides a secure and user-friendly proximity scanning experience, allowing in-app QR code scanning at checkout (available in South Africa only).
Yes, customers can include both cards and bank accounts in the digital payment solution (South Africa only), and can select which one to pay with.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a form of authentication that helps prevent unauthorized access by requiring users to provide two or more authentication factors to verify their identity. These can include the knowledge factor (something you know, like a password), the possession factor (something you have, like a mobile phone) or the inherence factor (something that uniquely identifies a person, such as their fingerprint).
Biometric authentication is a security process that relies on the unique biological characteristics of an individual to verify that they are who they say they are. Biometric authentication systems compare physical traits to stored, confirmed, authentication data. If both samples of the biometric data match, authentication is confirmed. Since biometric authentication uses unique characteristics for verification, they are difficult to replicate, making this authentication method more secure, and convenient. Traditional authentication methods, such as usernames, passwords or ID cards, are not as secure as they can be easily stolen or guessed by fraudsters.
Out-of-band authentication is a type of two-factor authentication that requires a secondary verification method through a separate communication channel along with the username and password. Out-of-band authentication is often used in financial institutions and other organizations with high security requirements. Out-of-band helps to improve cybersecurity because it makes hacking an account more difficult due to two separate and unconnected authentication channels that a fraudster would need to simultaneously compromise to gain access.
One-time passwords (OTPs) can easily be intercepted by fraudsters employing cyberattack techniques like phishing, man-in-the-middle or SIM-swap schemes. Fraudsters trick unsuspecting users into sharing their internet banking credentials (username and password) on a site that mimics the real banking site. When the user enters their details on the fake banking site, the fraudster captures their banking information and uses their credentials to steal money from their account.
Each bank has a different definition of which transactions they consider to be high risk, but the following are typically considered high risk:
Most banks will require two-factor or multi-factor authentication if you initiate one of these types of transactions.
- One-time payments
- Recurring payments
- Future-dated purchases
- Prepaid purchases
- Adding beneficiaries or making account changes
- ACH and wire transfers, Zelle or other P2P payments
Most banks will require two-factor or multi-factor authentication if you initiate one of these types of transactions.
At Entersekt, our multi-factor authentication (MFA) offers stronger protection against fraud than outdated authentication measures like passwords or one-time passwords (OTPs), which many FIs still use. Our MFA provides a layered approach to security, requiring two or more authentication factors to verify a customer’s identity, such as customer’s device (possession factor) and biometrics (inherence factor). Entersekt solutions are also backed by extensive risk data enabling secure and user-friendly digital banking experiences.
One way to verify a customer’s identity is through their browser. However, some solutions rely on technology that does not prioritize consumer privacy, such as cookies or device fingerprinting. Entersekt’s Browser Authentication utilizes silent and active authentication measures to turn the customer’s browser into a secure possession factor. Browser Authentication creates a seamless, passwordless, login experience without tracking customers across the web.
When customers want to make high-risk transactions, like an instant payment, strong security is a must to prevent digital banking fraud. To secure high-risk transactions, Entersekt’s approach includes sharing real-time risk data across all banking channels. This enables our solutions to make risk decisions based on the context of each transaction (Context Aware™ Authentication) and step up the security measures for high-risk transactions, without adding any unnecessary friction.
Unlike traditional OTPs, which fraudsters can easily intercept through techniques like phishing or SIM-swap schemes, Entersekt's Customer Authentication enables more modern and secure online banking experiences through multi-factor authentication and biometric authentication. These methods significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access, ensuring that user credentials remain secure.
Entersekt offers passwordless authentication options through our Browser Authentication and Biometric Authentication products. Biometrics, like a face scan or fingerprint, provides a familiar and user-friendly method to verify a customer’s identity. Our other passwordless technologies include QR codes, behavioral analysis, passkeys and push notifications.
Entersekt provides risk advice and intelligence to our clients through risk-based authentication (RBA), utilizing signal collection, behavioral biometrics, real-time risk assessment and risk rules. Together, this data enables providers to make the right authentication decisions based on the context of each transaction.
Instead of a static authentication policy, which often leads to frustrated customers, failed transactions and cart abandonment, providers can now build active risk profiles for each customer, reduce friction by employing the least intrusive challenge and better mitigate fraud risks.
Instead of a static authentication policy, which often leads to frustrated customers, failed transactions and cart abandonment, providers can now build active risk profiles for each customer, reduce friction by employing the least intrusive challenge and better mitigate fraud risks.
Customer success
According to global research and advisory firm, Datos Insights, “What differentiates Entersekt’s platform from other authentication hubs is that it has fully integrated its authentication orchestration platform with payments channels, such as its ACS.”
In addition, Entersekt’s digital banking fraud prevention and payment security solutions deliver benefits such as:
In addition, Entersekt’s digital banking fraud prevention and payment security solutions deliver benefits such as:
- One integrated solution
- A real-time risk engine
- Personalized, orchestrated customer journeys
- Continuous compliance
- Robust security
- Easily scalable
One credit union recorded 3,000 password reset attempts over one month, saving them an estimated $30,000 if those password resets had gone through their call center channel. Plus, while 90% of those attempts were approved by a trusted customer device, 10% were declined, potentially preventing 300 ATO attacks.
Within two months of implementation, another financial institution enabled over 190,000 frictionless logins using our silent attestation features. The solution also enabled call center savings of approximately $50,000 based on nearly 5,000 password resets handled via our app, rather than through their call center. For the small percentage of declined requests, the provider saved an approximate $900,000 from potential ATO losses prevented.
Within two months of implementation, another financial institution enabled over 190,000 frictionless logins using our silent attestation features. The solution also enabled call center savings of approximately $50,000 based on nearly 5,000 password resets handled via our app, rather than through their call center. For the small percentage of declined requests, the provider saved an approximate $900,000 from potential ATO losses prevented.
Read more of our case studies here.
One digital banking platform shared that, “With a single integration such as Entersekt, a bank (or credit union) can really protect all of their customers across the entire landscape."
One issuer commented that, “Together with Entersekt, we have implemented a future-proof solution with the FIDO standard. So far, this is a unique alternative to app-based authentication in the German market.”
A credit union client shared that, “MemberPass’s extended functionality from Entersekt provides unmatched biometric authentication for our digital banking platform, while being in tune with members’ unique preferences for user logins and payments.”
One issuer commented that, “Together with Entersekt, we have implemented a future-proof solution with the FIDO standard. So far, this is a unique alternative to app-based authentication in the German market.”
A credit union client shared that, “MemberPass’s extended functionality from Entersekt provides unmatched biometric authentication for our digital banking platform, while being in tune with members’ unique preferences for user logins and payments.”
Entersekt was featured as a leading vendor, and the highest-rated authentication-focused vendor, in Liminal’s 2024 Link Index for account takeover (ATO) prevention in banking. Read more here.
Regarding awards, Entersekt won the Scale-Up of the Year Award at Founders Conference 2024 in South Africa.
Regarding awards, Entersekt won the Scale-Up of the Year Award at Founders Conference 2024 in South Africa.