Two is Better Than One
Currently, you only need a username and password (and sometimes other information) to access your online financial accounts. This is known as "single-factor authentication," because you only need one thing, something you know, to sign on.
A cyber criminal, physically located anywhere in the world, can easily steal your sign-in credentials, gain access to your online account, and execute fraudulent financial transactions.
Security experts have long known that "two-factor authentication," which requires both something you know and something you have to access your online accounts, is a much more secure way to fight identity theft. An everyday example of two-factor authentication can be found at an ATM machine. To access your account via an ATM, you must have your PIN (the first factor, something you know) and your ATM card (the second factor, something you have).
Think of ID Vault as an "ATM Card" you use to access your online accounts and fight ID theft at the same time. Cyber criminals can easily steal the usernames and passwords you type into Web pages, but they don't have your ID Vault, and they can't steal the usernames and passwords locked in your ID Vault.
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A Smart Approach
The underlying technology in ID Vault is a smart card chip. Smart card chips are universally recognized as the most secure way to store sensitive information.
 The term "smart card" commonly refers to a plastic card about the size of a credit card, with an embedded microchip, the "smart card chip," that can be loaded with data. A smart card contains more information than a magnetic stripe card, and it can be programmed for different applications. Over a billion smart cards are already in use around the world, with smart cards most common throughout Europe, where they are used primarily as payment cards.
Smart card technology is available in a variety of form factors, including plastic cards, key fobs, and USB-based tokens. "Card" is used as a generic term to describe any device in which smart card technology is used. ID Vault is a "smart card" in the form of a USB token.
In their guidance to financial institutions, U.S. Federal banking regulators recommend USB tokens containing smart card chips as a way to offer two-factor authentication for online banking sites to help fight identity theft.
ID Vault uses smart card technology to securely encrypt and store account usernames and passwords in a tamper-proof USB token, where cyber criminals can't reach them.
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"ID Vault is very useful. I don't have to remember my passwords as ID vault does this for me."
- R. O.,
Oviedo, FL
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