The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has introduced a new customer authentication feature for its online banking portal NetBank designed to prevent unauthorised access to a customer’s accounts even if their password has been stolen.
The feature, added as part of the login process, will prompt account holders via the bank’s app for a request for confirmation each time a login attempt is made to NetBank (which requires the use of username and password credentials).
Each attempt to log on to NetBank will trigger the in-app notification for a customer to approve or decline; unanswered attempts will be denied access to NetBank.
The new security layer, set to be rolled out next month, is designed to prevent unauthorised access even if a would-be intruder has obtained the customer’s password.
“It also can help to block further unauthorised attempts to access NetBank, as the customer will be prompted to change their NetBank password if they confirm, via the app, a NetBank log on attempt wasn’t them,” CBA said.
The bank hailed the introduction as among the most simple and effective defences against online banking fraud, citing the Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD’s) Annual Cyber Threat Report 2023-2024, which found multi-factor authentication (MFA) as a mitigant for the top three self-reported cyber-crimes for individuals – identity fraud (26%), online shopping fraud (15%) and online banking fraud (12%).
CommBank said the new feature is part of its $450 million anti-fraud and anti-financial crimes investment allocated for the first half of FY2025.
Meg Bonighton, CBA’s EGM of customer engagement and digital, acknowledged that the log-in authorisation feature will be new for many customers, saying the bank will listen out for customer feedback during the phased rollout and support those requiring help.
“We’re always trying to get the balance right between providing a seamless experience for our customers while keeping them safe and secure.”
The introduction of the new login feature comes as the bank reports a 70 per cent drop in losses from scams over the last two years, following the introduction of a slew of anti-fraud features, including Fraud Indicator, Scam Indicator, NameCheck, and in-app CallerCheck technology, among others.
