Barclays boosts online security

Barclays will offer its customers a handheld chip and PIN device to boost the security of its online banking service.

The PINsentry device will be used in conjunction with the user’s current debit card and PIN number to generate a new one-time password, in the form of an eight digit number, which the customer inputs each time they login to the online banking site to authenticate their identity.

This will replace the need for passcodes and memorable words currently used to validate the customer’s identity, the bank said.

The two-factor authentication tool will be available later this year, initially to customers who use their internet banking account to set up payments to new third party accounts. The financial giant expects to send over half a million card readers to customers for free by the end of the year.

The scheme could potentially be rolled out to all the bank’s customers, but it will target those consumers most vulnerable to fraud first, according to a Barclay’s spokesperson.

“Barclays is constantly working to help protect customers and their money and that is why we have invested in this system,” said Barnaby Davis, director for electronic banking at the company. “PINsentry is the next generation of fraud prevention technology and we are the first organisation in the UK to roll it out to its customers.”