ICONLOOP Joins Forces with SBI Savings Bank to Launch a Blockchain-Based Personal Authentication Service
From the moment the service launches, users of the SBI Savings Bank smart banking mobile application will be able to carry out blockchain-based PIN authentication and fingerprint authentication through SBI Simple Authentication. Along with stronger security founded on blockchain, users will be able to log in and make simple transfers with only a PIN or a fingerprint — no accredited certificate, security card, or OTP required. With blockchain-based SBI Simple Authentication, certificates are issued not by an accredited certification authority but through consensus signing among the nodes of SBI's own blockchain server; the PIN or fingerprint authentication information is then stored, and its integrity is verified through SCORE, the smart contract execution environment developed by ICONLOOP. SBI Simple Authentication applies a private key and public key structure to build a secure user authentication process, while following the same specifications as existing certificates to improve system integration. It also adopts the FIDO standard so that biometric authentication can be applied according to the needs of customers using blockchain certificates.
Users of the SBI Savings Bank smart banking mobile application can tap the "Login" button on the home screen and then select "PIN authentication" or "Fingerprint authentication" to use the login and simple transfer services. Customers who have not yet registered a PIN or fingerprint will see a pop-up prompting them to register and will be taken to the initial authentication setup screen. The service provides the same user experience (UX) as existing PIN or fingerprint authentication services, so that users need not understand the underlying blockchain technology or encounter any difficulty in the authentication process.
The two companies expect the service to raise customer satisfaction, since no separate plug-in installation is required, and to strengthen security as well, because records on the blockchain cannot be forged or altered, making it difficult to misuse certificates through hacking. They are also looking to a phased replacement of the areas where accredited certificates are used — beyond login and simple transfers — and expect that linking the service with the timestamp function of a public blockchain will eventually cut costs associated with accredited certificates.
Since November 2018, ICONLOOP has worked with SBI Savings Bank not only on blockchain-based authentication services but also on electronic document authentication. SBI Savings Bank employees currently upload attachments held in the SBI groupware document repository — drafts, cooperation requests, general official documents and the like — to a blockchain-based document authentication system, allowing them to confirm when viewing or downloading that the files have not been tampered with. SBI Savings Bank, which recorded the largest asset base in Korea as of September 2018 at KRW 6.6772 trillion, has been developing a range of services incorporating IT and fintech technologies such as AI and blockchain since 2016, in order to build a new growth foundation that can respond to rapid change in the financial environment.
"Blockchain-based SBI Simple Authentication will be an opportunity to improve convenience and safety by applying blockchain to a service already in real use, with the financial sector leading the way," said ICONLOOP CEO JH Kim. "ICONLOOP will continue working with SBI Savings Bank to find synergies across many areas so that we can offer distinctive benefits."
"Working with ICONLOOP, this service launch has been a valuable opportunity to raise the competitiveness of our bank's financial services another notch," said Eunhwa Lee, Director of the Fintech TFT at SBI Savings Bank. "By providing a safer and more convenient service, we expect to offer new benefits to existing customers and to help attract new ones. We will keep working to lead the industry through the adoption of diverse fintech-based financial technologies and to maximize customer satisfaction."
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