Vasco wins HSBC internet security contract

US-Belgian internet security firm Vasco Data Security International (Nasdaq: VDSI) has won a contract with the Brazilian unit of British bank HSBC to install its security systems to make online banking for business customers more secure. In a statement, Vasco said that HSBC Brazil will use its Digipass GO3 electronic tokens designed for the large volume banking market. The token generates a unique one-time password which changes every 36 seconds and can only be used once, and must match with the identical algorithm running on the bank's control system. By generating one-time passwords, the tokens eliminate the problems of entering static information into the internet, which can be captured by fraud schemes such as Trojan Horses and Phishing, which send bogus emails asking internet users to enter banking passwords. For 2003, Vasco said estimates are that the Brazilian banking industry lost US$30mn to such schemes. The company is running the HSBC contract in partnership with its Brazilian partner UserID, and is keen to sign up more partnerships across Latin America to bring in essential local know-how, Vasco spokesperson Jochem Binst told BNamericas. Other customers in the region include Brazil's Banco Itau, Panama's Banco Aleman Platina and Guatemala's Lloyds Bank. Vasco has more than 12 million tokens deployed worldwide, and has 300 banking customers as well as 1,200 corporate customers that use the security systems for accessing electronic procurement sites and other e-business services.