Passmark has been making some serious inroads into enabling two-factor authentication for financial institutions. You may have seen Passmark and not have known it. They make the software that banks use to authenticate themselves to you the consumer. They do this by showing you an image and phrase you selected. This let’s you know the bank is really the bank and not some other nefarious phishing web site. No doubt banks like Passmark since it is cost effective two-way authentication system. What I wonder is does the average consumer understand this? I wonder if Passmark has ever done some live testing to see if consumers abort transactions when shown the wrong graphic or phrase?

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad banks are doing something, I just wonder if it is enough. Is this a product that really protects most people or is it just another thing we the consumer tune out?