The mobile payments company Obopay Inc. said Wednesday that it is using security software from IDology Inc. to authenticate users when they enroll.
IDology, an Atlanta vendor, supplies knowledge-based authentication questions, which generate multiple-choice questions from databases of personal information to confirm users' identities. The questions are designed to be answered intuitively by legitimate users but to frustrate fraudsters.
Obopay in Redwood City, Calif., sells a mobile electronic transfer system that lets people send each other money through prepaid card accounts linked to their cell phones. People can manage their accounts and make payments by typing instructions into their phones.
"Keeping our platform safe means protecting our consumers from identity theft and fraud," Christopher Martin, Obopay's vice president and compliance officer, said in a press release from IDology.
Jon Dancu, IDology's president and chief executive, said in the press release that, "since mobile applications are really an extension of the Internet and its convenience and ease, the identity issue mobile payment providers face [is] the same as [that faced by] online providers."
