CodeSealer protects online banks from hackers and reduces online bank fraud
Introduction
CodeSealer Aps is a privately held company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, which has specialized in online banking session security and e-Crime prevention. CodeSealer has developed the world’s first invisible software based Web Session Firewall.
The Web Session Firewall enables financial institutions to reduce direct and indirect costs of malware-based mobile- and online bank fraud, and thereby offering a secure online banking to all customers, regardless of if the customer PC/device is infected with Malware.
CodeSealer has signed its first customers (three major banks from UK, Italy and the Nordic region) with 25 million end-users, and are in advanced negotiations with multiple of the largest financial institutions in Europe.
Product
The Web Session Firewall is installed on the bank’s server and works by establishing a secure session between the end-user’s browser and the Web Session Firewall. The product continuously monitors the web pages displayed to the end-user to detect any unauthorized changes. All communication with the end-user’s browser is encrypted and authenticated using session-specific cryptographic keys. The solution enables financial institutions to cost-effectively reduce the direct and indirect costs of malware-based mobile- and online bank fraud. Banks are now able to position themselves one step ahead of the cybercriminals, since cybercriminals no longer are able to enjoy the same advantages as they have today in using the same malware for multiple attacks.
The CodeSealer technology forces the attacker to continuously update his attack code on the fly, within a very short time period. By preventing the attack code from being automated and re-used, the cyber criminals would lose the economies of scale that they have today. This will consequently lead to the collapse of the current business model used by the cyber criminals.
The CodeSealer approach
CodeSealer’s approach is unique, since the Web Session Firewall is protecting the bank’s entire online bank user-base without annoying them. In fact, the Web Session Firewall does not require any client-side installation and the product is invisible to the end-user.
The Web Session Firewall is not trying to remove the malware, but instead detecting whenever it tries to break into the online bank, meaning that the Web Session Firewall forensic data on attempted attacks.The product is browser independent and works on both PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones.
The unique obfuscation and verification technologies are protected by three patents.
Market
The addressable market is the approx. $3 billion banks are spending on two-factor authentication systems, to which CodeSealer’s solution is a strong complement. The main geographical market has so far been EU, but the use of two-factor authentication is rapidly spreading to USA (driven by new regulation) and Asia(driven by rapid increase in online banking). The current global 1 billion online bank users will have increased to 2 billion users by 2015.
Partners
CodeSealer has signed a non-exclusive partnership agreement with IBM, which has a very strong presence within the financial services sector. IBM will help market the product by testing the product and present the solution towards their clients.
Awards
The Red Herring 100 Europe Innovation Award in May 2011. CodeSealer was selected by Red Herring as one of the Top 100 European start-ups. The Red Herring Top 100 are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries
Investors
The company has to date raised $2.7 million from leading seed investors, including the leading seed-stage VC in Denmark. CodeSealer is planning to raise further $5-8 million in Q4 2012. The money is to be spent on market development outside Europe (local sales and support team in USA).