Technocheck is an innovative, efficient and effective solution for payment methods and meets current and future end-users’ and financial institutions’ needs.
Based on a 512 bits Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA512), it provides digital signature on cheques and other paper instruments’ content such as bankers’ drafts, building society cheques, postal orders, etc...
Once the imaging system will be in place, if banks choose to truncate paper at source after the image has been captured, financial institutions resorting to the use of UV and other mechanisms to review suspected fraudulent items will not be in the position to use these tools.
Moreover, the legislation will not include a right for a paying bank to demand that it is presented with the physical cheque before deciding whether to honour the payment.
We believe that in this scenario our solution will be an essential tool to ensure a high level of fraud detection and to further reduce fraud levels.
Cheque Fraud Losses 2010 to 2014 figures * presented on C&CCC website show that the use of fraud prevention systems has dramatically reduced the losses due to cheque fraud, however we believe that the industry will face new challenges with the migration to cheque imaging.
Despite the use of good quality OCR, it would be the absence of paper to verify that the cheque has not be altered
Why is TechnoCheck secure?
The hash signature of the cheque's content is computed by the cheque's drawer.
The collecting bank computes the signature and compares it against the one on the cheque, verifying immediately that there is no fraudulent alteration.
In other words, rather than computing the hash signature to prevent internal tampering of the cheque, TechnoCheck prevents tampering for the entire cheque's life cycle.
It is important to note that Technocheck’s hash signature is based not only on data written on the cheque but also on additional code that doesn't appear on the cheque itself; this feature provides additional security against frauds as it cannot be reproduced or altered.
Back to the main fraud typologies:
– Counterfeit cheque fraud: there is no way to counterfeit cheques that have Technocheck ash signature because it would then have a wrong hash signature on it.
– Forged cheque fraud: the correct hash signature cannot be created because it also depends on additional code the forger doesn't know.
– Fraudulently altered cheques: again the hash signature wouldn't match.
Furthermore, Technocheck is fully configurable/ customizable, allowing financial institutions to choose what to include into the hash signature computation to address their security levels.
How to compute the hash signature?
TeKnowlink has developed three solutions for the cheque's drawer to choose from:
– A small, portable, low cost device of about the size of a business card
– An application for iOS, Android and Windows Mobile
– An application for desktop or notebook running Linux, OS X or Windows.
There is no need to write the 16 digits of the signature: cheque’s drawers will mark them on a pre-printed matrix on the back of the cheque.
A scan of the selected numbers on the matrix will automatically detect the code allowing the paying bank to verify the signature throughout a TeKnowlink application.
Alternatively, we developed a lossless code compression algorithm reducing the 16 digits to either 13 or 11 maintaining the same information and security level: in this cases the signature can be handwritten directly on the rear of the cheque.
It is also possible to enable the mobile app for sending the hash signature, with cheque information, directly to the bank.
Also agents collecting third parties cheques can take advantage of Technocheck verifying immediately the hash signatures through an online service the bank can activate for them.
TechnoCheck and the future of the cheques:
This secure way opens a new horizon for the cheques' future. From the safety standpoint, the digital signature of the cheque computed at the act of its creation and the use of mobile technologies (tablets and smartphones) shifts the attention more on the contents than the item itself, opening the road to secure paperless cheques.