Israeli startup Cyota, which develops solutions for secure payments over the Internet, announced today that Navy Federal Credit Union would offer customers a security solution based on the Cyota SecureSuite Platform.
Cyota said Navy Federal was the first US credit card issuer to offer Master Card SecureCode to its cardholders. Navy Federal's "CardGuard" service is also the first live system to combine MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa as a single integrated service. No value was given for the deal.
Navy Federal is the largest credit union in the world, and has over 2.1 million members. The not-for-profit union offers financial services to US Navy personnel, Marine Corps and members of their families.
Beginning December 16th, Navy Federal's members can sign up for CardGuard protection. The service is delivered by TSYS and powered by Cyota's SecureSuite platform, which integrates MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa.
Navy Federal's CardGuard uses MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa to authenticate cardholders during online transactions at participating merchants. The service requires cardholders to enter their private password in a pop-up window or box on their PC before their online transaction can be approved and completed--much like the PIN process required at an ATM.
Electronic payment services company TSYS (NYSE: TSS) has serviced Navy Federal's cardholder accounts since 2000. TSYS is providing Navy Federal with Cyota's SecureSuite platform in combination with a fraud services system, which it provides to Navy Federal and more than 100 processing clients in North America and Europe.
TSYS group executive Andrew W. Marks said, "TSYS fully supports these fraud prevention measures from MasterCard and Visa to assure that processing clients like Navy Federal and their cardholders will continue to have access to protection against identity theft. Because SecureSuite integrates the best technologies from both associations, Cyota ideally helps us reach that goal."
Cyota's SecureSuite platform is designed to support a wide range of authentication and card security products including MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa and surrogate numbers. The platform has been implemented by some of the world's largest financial institutions, the company says. Cyota currently powers 80% of all Visa cardholder accounts that are eligible for Verified by Visa in the US.
Cyota CEO and president Naftali Bennett said, “Cyota is delighted to pioneer the market once again, with the first global SecureCode live system. Cyota is clearly the leading provider of MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa in the world."
Cyota was founded in 1999 by Naftali Bennett (CEO), Michal Tsur, Ben Enosh, and Lior Golan. Investors include Israel Seed Partners, Giza GE Ventures, Jafco Investment (Asia Pacific) Fund, Quan Ventures of Switzerland, Dresdner Kleinworth Benson, Poalim Capital Markets, and private investors. Last week, Cyota said it completed an $8 million third financing round, which was led by RRE Ventures.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 17 December, 2002