1Kosmos BlockID Platform Provides SIM Binding to Prevent Online Fraud

1Kosmos is proud to announce the launch of its SIM (subscriber identity module) binding capabilities for the 1Kosmos BlockID distributed digital identity platform to stop online fraud in India. As a result, organizations can now meet the guidelines outlined in the RBI Advisory (October 13, 2021) to prevent internet retail banking fraud in India.

Using a combination of SIM detection and SMS verification, BlockID validates a user’s mobile number against the number registered with their financial institution or employer to protect against attacks that attempt to register an unauthorized device/phone number on a customer’s account.

India suffered a loss of around Rs 1.24 lakh crore in 2020 due to cyber-attacks. According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the rate of cybercrime (incidents per lakh people) in the country climbed from 3.3 percent in 2019 to 3.7 percent in 2020. There were 4,047 cases of online banking fraud, 1,093 OTP frauds, 1,194 credit/debit card frauds, and 2,160 cases of ATM fraud detected in 2020.

Cyber-attacks increased by 500 per cent during the pandemic due to adoption of digitalization. Siddharth Gandhi, Chief Operating Officer, APAC, 1Kosmos said, “OTP theft is quite prevalent in India. A gullible customer is approached by a fraudster under the guise of updating their KYC form and ultimately tricked into revealing bank details that are used to transfer large sums of money from the victim’s account. With this new capability, 1Kosmos BlockID can curb a significant number of such cases.” He added, “One needs to be vigilant against OTP fraud. Prevention is better than cure or detection.”

As per the NCRB statistics, Uttar Pradesh has the most cybercrime cases with 11,097, followed by Karnataka (10,741), Maharashtra (5,496), Telangana (5,024), and Assam (3,530). However, with 16.2 percent, Karnataka had the highest crime rate, followed by Telangana (13.4 percent), Assam (10.1 percent), Uttar Pradesh (4.8 percent), and Maharashtra (4.4 percent), according to the NCRB data.

“Mobile devices have become a popular and effective authentication mechanism for online banking, payments and ecommerce applications, but they are vulnerable to account takeover attacks if the phone number of record is changed or the SIM is stolen by a fraudster,” said Mike Engle, Chief Strategy Officer for 1Kosmos. “BlockID now prevents criminals from transferring a user’s authorized phone number to another device in order to access their accounts.”

SIM binding is a new feature available on the BlockID app that allows customers to link their account only to a phone number registered with an institution or employer. During registration on the BlockID app, the user is challenged to verify their phone number. A combination of SIM detection and SMS verification is used by the BlockID platform to validate a user’s mobile number against the number registered with their service provider.

“The recent Reserve Bank of India directive on implementing device binding to prevent internet retail banking frauds has made it mandatory for financial institutions in India and around the world to deploy this capability,” said Siddharth. He continues, “The BlockID mobile app and biometric digital identity created by the 1Kosmos cloud-based service, as well as an optional SDK, make it fast and cost effective for banks to roll out SIM binding to their customer base with zero new infrastructure investments.”

Led by Hemen Vimadalal, serial entrepreneur and CEO at 1Kosmos, has already developed a robust portfolio of partners and clients including Verizon, Hitachi and RSA Security. In India, 1Kosmos has an enviable roster of clients primarily from the banking and financial services sector including IndoStar Capital, 63Moons, Hitachi, Bajaj Electrical, to name a few.

How BlockID SIM Binding Works

The 1Kosmos customer (bank, payment provider, enterprise, etc.) generates an email with a link to send to end users. When the recipient (consumer, employee, etc.) clicks on the link, it opens the BlockID app. This initiates a process to detect the presence of a single or dual SIM. The user is then prompted to choose the SIM registered with their service provider or employer. BlockID then validates that the SIM and phone number match the phone number on record with the service provider or employer. If validated, then the account, user and device are linked.