Nation’s Largest Direct Bank, Enhances Security for Online Customers with New Fraud Prevention Software

WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ING DIRECT (www.ingdirect.com), recently ranked as America’s “safest bank” by the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at the University of California at Berkeley, announced today that it has partnered with Trusteer, Inc., the leading consumer fraud protection company, to become the first US bank to offer Trusteer’s Rapport consumer Identity Theft protection software free to all of its customers. Rapport is a next generation consumer desktop security solution that protects consumers from online identity theft and malware threats such as phishing, pharming, keyloggers, man-in-the-middle attacks, man-in-the-browser attacks, screen-scrapers, and session hijacking.

“We work very hard to ensure customer information and savings are secure. Our strategy of adding and changing security layers with minimal customer impact is critical,” says Rudy Wolfs, Chief Information Officer of ING DIRECT. “With this new product, our Customers have the opportunity to install free fraud-prevention software that protects against even the most sophisticated online threats.”

Trusteer Rapport complements existing desktop security products and strong authentication solutions by taking a new approach – protecting the consumer’s transactions even when their computers may already be infected with malware. Rapport creates a “secure-pipe” within the computer that protects all information flowing between the machine and the ING DIRECT web site. This “secure pipe” prevents malware from stealing confidential information from the consumer, conducting unintended transactions on the consumer's behalf, or tricking the consumer to enter their private banking or e-commerce credentials into look-alike websites.

“ING DIRECT is taking a leadership role in addressing the need for additional layers of desktop security software, such as anti-virus, anti-spyware, and desktop firewalls, to protect consumers from sophisticated attacks aimed at online banking users,” said Mickey Boodaei, CEO of Trusteer.

The partnership covers 14 million ING DIRECT consumers world-wide. The software will be available this summer to all United States ING DIRECT customers, and can be downloaded directly from ingdirect.com.

About ING DIRECT

ING DIRECT, the nation’s largest direct bank and third-largest thrift, is dedicated to inspiring Americans to become a nation of savers. Since its inception in 2000, more than 6.8 million Americans have entrusted their savings with ING DIRECT, building the bank to $78 billion in assets. For more information on ING DIRECT, or to learn more about the bank’s high-value products, including the Orange Savings Account, Electric Orange, Orange CDs and the Orange Mortgage, visit www.ingdirect.com or call 1-800-ING DIRECT.

About Trusteer

Trusteer enables online businesses to establish a secure communication tunnel with their customers over the Internet that stretches from user's keyboard into the company's website. Trusteer's flagship product, Rapport, allows online banks, brokerages, and retailers to protect their customers from identity theft and financial fraud. Unlike conventional approaches to Web security, Rapport protects users' confidential information even if their computer is infected with malware including Trojans and keyloggers, or is victimized by pharming, phishing attacks. Trusteer is a privately held corporation led by former executives from Cyota/RSA Security, Imperva, and NetScreen/Juniper. For more information visit www.trusteer.com.

Style note to Editors: ING DIRECT is always capitalized and never referred to as ING.