India's ICICI Bank has installed fingerprint scanning technology from SecuGen which it is using to authenticate network users at its treasury operations.
SecuGen says bank staff can authenticate themselves to a computer network by scanning their fingerprints with its Hamster III fingerprint readers. The Secure Network Authentication Platform (Snap) software compares their fingerprints with previously registered scans in the server to verify their identities. If the prints match, staff can login to the bank's network.
The vendor teamed with Print Electronics to deliver the fingerprint scanning application. The bank has now completed an initial four month pilot of the technology and is rolling out the biometric system across its treasury department.
Kartik Shah, senior manager, ICICI Bank, says there has been a 50% drop in calls to the bank's help desk following the inital roll out of the system.
"Qualitatively, security has improved, and we are one step closer to complying with Sarbanes-Oxley regulation which requires secure access to financial data, especially data that is vulnerable," says Shah.